The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley [i.e. J. B. L. Warren] |
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| XVI. | XVI |
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 | The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley |  |
22
XVI
If in the mental man, as with his growth,
Time alters and repairs with silent feet,
And we are fools of Circumstance the cheat,
Or drugg'd beneath the hemlock wine of Sloth.
Time alters and repairs with silent feet,
And we are fools of Circumstance the cheat,
Or drugg'd beneath the hemlock wine of Sloth.
We give the fickle years a slavish troth,
Withholding not the soul's stability
Ring'd round and fenced from mutability.
One stream takes all the willing and the loth.
Withholding not the soul's stability
Ring'd round and fenced from mutability.
One stream takes all the willing and the loth.
Go, barren plea perpetual to despair;
Inaction numbs the freshness of the powers,
Leaves the disease and taints the remedy;
Inaction numbs the freshness of the powers,
Leaves the disease and taints the remedy;
Better to dare and fail than not to dare;
Rest is unrest that drowses jostling hours,
Poison sweet sleep that lets occasion by.
Rest is unrest that drowses jostling hours,
Poison sweet sleep that lets occasion by.
| The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley | |