 | The Poetry of Real Life |  |
THE GOOD AND EVIL OF LIFE.
The sorrows of this life, the bitterness,The evils, social or inherited,
Transmitted to the living by the dead,
Who thus still live, with power to curse or bless,
As chanced their errors to be more or less:
That bitterness the wise man turns instead
Into the leaven of life's daily bread,
To raise it, so that naught be in excess—
So wisely blends he the ingredients;
And, if somewhiles the taste seem bitter, he
Thereby the after-zest but more augments,
And gives to happiness varietie.
The mixture but proportions the contents:
The whole is sweet, though bitter the leaven be!
| The Poetry of Real Life | |