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64
CHRISTMAS MDCCCCXII
He that will not, as he may,
Take the chances day by day
Fortune sendeth, good or ill,
Or great or trifling, at her will:
Take the chances day by day
Fortune sendeth, good or ill,
Or great or trifling, at her will:
He that saith not to his soul,
These shall help me to my goal;
Be they foul or be they fair,
I will use them as a stair
Upward to the end I see:
These shall help me to my goal;
Be they foul or be they fair,
I will use them as a stair
Upward to the end I see:
He that curseth Fate's decree,
Or, as an unresisting straw,
Drifts any way life's eddies draw:
Or, as an unresisting straw,
Drifts any way life's eddies draw:
For him the Sun shines vainly bright,
And vain for him's the purple Night,
And vain dear Springtime's bursting song,
Or pensive Autumn's lingering throng,
Vain Summer's glow and Winter's snow,
Vain all the changing World!
And vain for him's the purple Night,
And vain dear Springtime's bursting song,
Or pensive Autumn's lingering throng,
Vain Summer's glow and Winter's snow,
Vain all the changing World!
And so
Hic jacet, when Death's stroke hath smitten,
A Fool!
Hic jacet, when Death's stroke hath smitten,
A Fool!
God grant not thus be written
The simple line that tells, where lie
At last my tired bones and I!
The simple line that tells, where lie
At last my tired bones and I!
1912.
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