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131
ANTI-STUDIOUS.
“Home-keeping youths have ever homely wits.”
No! not for me the narrow hearth
With studious chair beside it;
But I will round the rolling earth,
And help, who knows? to guide it.
With studious chair beside it;
But I will round the rolling earth,
And help, who knows? to guide it.
The freedom of the winds be mine,
The privilege of changing;
From where hot Indian summer's shine
To polar rigours ranging.
The privilege of changing;
From where hot Indian summer's shine
To polar rigours ranging.
I've no ambition among books;
I hate the silent creeping
From line to line with blear-eyed looks
While wiser folks are sleeping.
I hate the silent creeping
From line to line with blear-eyed looks
While wiser folks are sleeping.
The wisdom of the shelves I own:
'Twere folly to dispute it;
But much of it is musty grown,
And much of it diluted
'Twere folly to dispute it;
But much of it is musty grown,
And much of it diluted
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By men who mix and mix again
And will not let you taste it
Till of the virtue naught remain
And all the flavour's wasted.
And will not let you taste it
Till of the virtue naught remain
And all the flavour's wasted.
Even though in treasured books it lay
Like hivëd honey glowing,
Mine be the brighter task to stray
Where opening buds are blowing;
Like hivëd honey glowing,
Mine be the brighter task to stray
Where opening buds are blowing;
To sip it from the breezy bell
And from the dewy chalice,
To sport o'er mountain, moor, and fell,
And revel in the valleys.
And from the dewy chalice,
To sport o'er mountain, moor, and fell,
And revel in the valleys.
The proper glory of the chase
Is galloping enraptured
With freedom beating on one's face,
—Not the poor quarry captured.
Is galloping enraptured
With freedom beating on one's face,
—Not the poor quarry captured.
Pursuit—Possession, choose—refuse:
The last would not content me,
And I would rather searching lose
Than sleeping have it sent me.
The last would not content me,
And I would rather searching lose
Than sleeping have it sent me.
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So I will up, and give the slip
To library and college,
And listen to the living lip
For wisdom and for knowledge;
To library and college,
And listen to the living lip
For wisdom and for knowledge;
And view the spacious changeful play
Of human life enacted,
And fling those views of it away
That come through books refracted;
Of human life enacted,
And fling those views of it away
That come through books refracted;
And gauge the secret springs profound
That moving underlie it;
And learn the use of wisdom found—
The wisdom to apply it.
That moving underlie it;
And learn the use of wisdom found—
The wisdom to apply it.
Then farewell book, and narrow hearth,
And midnight lamp beside it;
I'm off to round the rolling earth,
And help mayhap to guide it!
And midnight lamp beside it;
I'm off to round the rolling earth,
And help mayhap to guide it!
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