THIS fruitage from the far Hesperides I bring to great Eurystheus, feared and hated, Whom I, his slave, nor hate nor fear; my fated, My full reward, he has no power to seize, Nor is it bought with golden gauds like these; I seek supreme delights, untold, undated; Of joys wherewith these kings of men are sated Right little recks the Jove-born Hercules. I live content to bear my destined burden, To toil unthanked, unhonoured, void of guerdon, To work a tyrant's will through lonely years; That, neither shunning pain nor scorning pleasure, My strenuous soul may win Olympian leisure, And dwell in peace among the Gods, my peers. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO A YOUNG ASS; ITS MOTHER BEING TETHERED NEAR IT by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE PRECIOUS WORDS by EMILY DICKINSON HURRAHING IN HARVEST by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS EIGHTEEN SIXTY-ONE by WALT WHITMAN THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE AT [OR AFTER] CORUNNA by CHARLES WOLFE |