Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume III. Sorrow and Consolation. 1904. | | | | IV. Comfort and Cheer | | The Good, Great Man | | Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) |
| | | HOW seldom, Friend! a good great man inherits | |
| Honor or wealth with all his worth and pains! | |
| It sounds like stories from the land of spirits. | |
| If any man obtain that which he merits, | |
| Or any merit that which he obtains. | 5 |
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| For shame, dear Friend; renounce this canting strain! | |
| What wouldst thou have a good great man obtain? | |
| Place—titles—salary—a gilded chain— | |
| Or throne of corses which his sword has slain? | |
| Greatness and goodness are not means, but ends! | 10 |
| Hath he not always treasures, always friends, | |
| The good great man? three treasures,—love, and light, | |
| And calm thoughts, regular as infant’s breath; | |
| And three firm friends, more sure than day and night— | |
| Himself, his Maker, and the angel Death. | 15 | | | |
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