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...LITTLE SON by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON AN EXPLANATION by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON THE FAMILY by KATHERINE MANSFIELD DOMESDAY BOOK: ARCHIBALD LOWELL by EDGAR LEE MASTERS IN A CUBAN GARDEN by SARA TEASDALE THE FOUNTAIN (2) by SARA TEASDALE AN ODE ON THE UNVEILING OF THE SHAW MEMORIA BOSTON COMMON, MAY 31, 1897 by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |