Go!-but heed and understand This my last and best command: Turn thine Youth to such advantage As that no reverse shall daunt Age. Learn the serpent's wisdom early; And contemn what Time destroys; Also, wouldst thou creep or climb, Chuse thy rôle, and chuse in time, Since the scales of Fortune rarely Show a liberal equipoise. Thou must either soar or stoop, Fall or triumph, stand or droop; Thou must either serve or govern, Must be slave, or must be sovereign, Must in fine, be block or wedge, Must be anvil or be sledge. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PISGAH SIGHTS by ROBERT BROWNING DAYBREAK by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW SAINT PAUL: 1 by FREDERICK WILLIAM HENRY MYERS LUCY (5) by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH IDENTITY by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH PSALM 1. BEATUS VIR, QUI NON by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE THE BARN by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |