| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| The Golden Text |
| | | George Frederick Cameron (1854–87) |
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| YOU ask for fame or power? | |
| Then up, and take for text:- | |
| This is my hour, | |
| And not the next, nor next! | |
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| Oh, wander not in ways | 5 |
| Of ease or indolence! | |
| Swift come the days, | |
| And swift the days go hence. | |
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| Strike! while the hand is strong: | |
| Strike! while you can and may: | 10 |
| Strength goes ere long,— | |
| Even yours will pass away. | |
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| Sweet seem the fields, and green, | |
| In which you fain would lie; | |
| Sweet seems the scene | 15 |
| That glads the idle eye; | |
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| Soft seems the path you tread, | |
| And balmy soft the air,— | |
| Heaven overhead | |
| And all the earth seems fair; | 20 |
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| But, would your heart aspire | |
| To noble things,—to claim | |
| Bard’s, statesman’s fire— | |
| Some measure of their fame; | |
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| Or, would you seek and find | 25 |
| The secret of success | |
| With mortal kind? | |
| Then, up from idleness! | |
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| Up—up! all fame, all power | |
| Lies in this golden text: | 30 |
| This is my hour— | |
| And not the next nor next! | |
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