Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE GOLDEN TEXT, by GEORGE FREDERICK CAMERON Poet's Biography First Line: You ask for fame or power? Last Line: And not the next nor next! Subject(s): Opportunity; Conduct Of Life | ||||||||
YOU ask for fame or power? Then up, and take for text: -- This is my hour, And not the next, nor next! Oh, wander not in ways Of ease or indolence! Swift come the days, And swift the days go hence. Strike! while the hand is strong: Strike! while you can and may: Strength goes ere long, -- Even yours will pass away. Sweet seem the fields, and green, In which you fain would lie; Sweet seems the scene That glads the idle eye; Soft seems the path you tread, And balmy soft the air, -- Heaven overhead And all the earth seems fair; But, would your heart aspire To noble things, -- to claim Bard's, statesman's fire -- Some measure of their fame; Or, would you seek and find The secret of success With mortal kind? Then, up from idleness! Up -- up! all fame, all power Lies in this golden text: This is my hour -- And not the next nor next! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD by MATTHEA HARVEY SLOWLY: I FREQUENTLY SLOWLY WISH by LYN HEJINIAN MY LIFE: YET WE INSIST THAT LIFE IS FULL OF HAPPY CHANCE by LYN HEJINIAN CHAPTER HEADING by ERNEST HEMINGWAY PUNK HALF PANTHER by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA A CERTAIN MAN by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA GREEN-STRIPED MELONS by JANE HIRSHFIELD LIKE THE SMALL HOLE BY THE PATH-SIDE SOMETHING LIVES IN by JANE HIRSHFIELD DEATH (IN MEMORIAM MAGGIE MEAGHER) by GEORGE FREDERICK CAMERON |
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