Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, JEFFRIES WYMAN; DIED SEPTEMBER 4, 1874, by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL


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JEFFRIES WYMAN; DIED SEPTEMBER 4, 1874, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: The wisest man could ask no more of fate
Last Line: Fans the soul's nobler faith until it burn.
Subject(s): Friendship; Wyman, Jeffries (1814-1874)


THE wisest man could ask no more of Fate
Than to be simple, modest, manly, true,
Safe from the Many, honored by the Few;
To count as naught in World, or Church, or State,
But inwardly in secret to be great;
To feel mysterious Nature ever new;
To touch, if not to grasp, her endless clew,
And learn by each discovery how to wait.
He widened knowledge and escaped the praise;
He wisely taught, because more wise to learn;
He toiled for Science, not to draw men's gaze,
But for her lore of self-denial stern.
That such a man could spring from our decays
Fans the soul's nobler faith until it burn.





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