Classic Poem

Stilled be the siren voice that bids man crave
For every essay of labouring hand and brain
Outward approval meted in praise or gain:
So, as a swimmer high breasting wave by wave
Triumphantly onward, he thereby may pave
Sure path for his genius, reckoning light the strain,
Up to a height beyond all storm or stain,
And on fame's roll his deathless name engrave.

Nay, look thou within: there springs life's secret well
Of joys that no world hath power to quench or soil.
Faithful to thine own self thence stay thy thirst,
Asking no more save here unharmed to dwell
Within thine own pasture quietly at toil,
Careless of who shall count for last or first.