C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Aspiration

Translation of Samuel Eliot

ALL insufficient to my heart’s true rest

Is the deep murmur of a fountain pure,

Or the thick shade of trees in green leaves drest,

Or a strong castle’s solitude secure.

Not to my pleasure ministers the cup

Of Bacchic banquet, clamorous and free,

Nor cringing slaves, in miserable troop,

Whose keys unlock no splendid treasury.

By God created, in his might I live;

From Sovereign Spirit my soul’s breath I borrow;

To grow a giant—now a dwarf—I strive:

I will not be to-day, to die to-morrow.