| |
i WATCH thou and fear; to-morrow thou shalt die. | |
| Or art thou sure thou shalt have time for death? | |
| Is not the day which God’s word promiseth | |
| To come man knows not when? In yonder sky, | |
| Now while we speak, the sun speeds forth; can I | 5 |
| Or thou assure him of his goal? God’s breath | |
| Even at the moment haply quickeneth | |
| The air to a flame; till spirits, always nigh | |
| Though screened and hid, shall walk the daylight here. | |
| And dost thou prate of all that man shall do? | 10 |
| Canst thou, who hast but plagues, presume to be | |
| Glad in his gladness that comes after thee? | |
| Will his strength slay thy worm in Hell? Go to: | |
| Cover thy countenance, and watch, and fear. | |
| |
ii Think thou and act; to-morrow thou shalt die. | 15 |
| Outstretch’d in the sun’s warmth upon the shore, | |
| Thou say’st: ‘Man’s measured path is all gone o’er: | |
| Up all his years, steeply, with strain and sigh, | |
| Man clomb until he touched the truth; and I, | |
| Even I, am he whom it was destined for.’ | 20 |
| How should this be? Art thou then so much more | |
| Than they who sowed, that thou shouldst reap thereby? | |
| |
| Nay, come up hither. From this wave-washed mound | |
| Unto the furthest flood-brim look with me; | |
| Then reach on with thy thought till it be drown’d. | 25 |
| Miles and miles distant though the grey line be, | |
| And though thy soul sail leagues and leagues beyond,— | |
| Still, leagues beyond those leagues, there is more sea. | |
| |
