Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SECRET OF THE STARS, by FREDERIC ROWLAND MARVIN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SECRET OF THE STARS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ah well! If were so
Last Line: Do thy work, and do it well.
Subject(s): Secrets; Sky; Soul; Stars


Wie das Gestirn,
Ohne Hast,
Aber ohne Rast,
Drehe sich jeder
Um die eigne Last.—Goethe.

AH well! If were so
That ever we might go,
Starwise, in silent flight
Through the encircling night,
With neither haste nor rest,
Whether in East or West,
In North or South aflame;
Having this single aim:
Always the appointed task
To perform, and not to ask
Foreknowledge of our face.

Wie das Gestirn—even so!
Summers come and summers go,
Fragrant flowers and drifting snow,
Empires rise and empires fall;
These can not disturb at all
Draco's eighty flames of fire,
Vega, and the golden Lyre.
All the fret of our brief life,
All the seeking and the strife,
What we hate and what we choose,
What we win and what we lose—
These, how poor they all appear
When we think of that high sphere
Where the stars burn on for aye
Through the vast expanse of sky,
Without haste and without rest,
Ever doing each its best,
At its own appointed work.

Soul of man, the stars above
Speak to thee of our great love,
Centred in no misty creed,
But interpreted in deed.
List! the secret now they tell:
Do thy work, and do it well.





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