 | Poems descriptive, dramatic, legendary and contemplative |  |
VI. MANHOOD.
Manhood at last!—and, with its consciousness,Are strength and freedom; freedom to pursue
The purposes of hope—the godlike bliss,
Born in the struggle for the great and true!
And every energy that should be mine,
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So help me Heaven, that never I resign
The duty which devotes me to the strife;—
The enduring conflict which demands my strength,
Whether of soul or body, to the last;
The tribute of my years, through all their length,—
The future's compensation to the past!—
Boy's pleasures are for boyhood—its best cares
Befit us not in our performing years.
| Poems descriptive, dramatic, legendary and contemplative | |