THERE is no remedy for time misspent; No healing for the waste of idleness Whose very languor is a punishment Heavier than active souls can feel or guess . O hours of indolence and discontent, Not now to be redeemed! ye sting not less Because I know this span of life was lent For lofty duties, not for selfishness . Not to be wiled away in aimless dreams, But to improve ourselves, and serve mankind, Life, and its choicest faculties were given. Man should be ever better than he seems: And shape his acts, and discipline his mind, To walk adorning earth, with hope of heaven. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON THE SOUL by PUBLIUS AELIUS HADRIANUS THE HIGHER PANTHEISM by ALFRED TENNYSON A SONG OF A YOUNG LADY TO HER ANCIENT LOVER by JOHN WILMOT TWO SONGS FROM THE PERSIAN: 2 by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THE NATURAL FIRE by CLIFFORD ALLEN THE BUS by MABEL WARREN ARNOLD |