Horace. Book II. Ode X. |
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Receive, dear friend, the truths I teach, | |
So shalt thou live beyond the reach | |
Of adverse fortune’s power; | |
Not always tempt the distant deep, | |
Nor always timorously creep | |
Along the treacherous shore. | |
He that holds fast the golden mean, | |
And lives contentedly between | |
The little and the great, | |
Feels not the wants that pinch the poor, | |
Nor plagues that haunt the rich man’s door, | |
Imbittering all his state. | |
The tallest pines feels most the power | |
Of wintry blast, the loftiest tower | |
Comes heaviest to the ground; | |
The bolts that spare the mountain’s side, | |
His cloud-clapt eminence divide | |
And spread the ruin round. | |
The well-informed philosopher | |
Rejoices with a wholesome fear, | |
And hopes in spite of pain; | |
If winter bellow from the north, | |
Soon the sweet spring comes dancing forth, | |
And nature laughs again. | |
What if thine heaven be overcast, | |
The dark appearance will not last, | |
Expect a brighter sky; | |
The God that strings the silver bow | |
Awakes sometimes the muses too, | |
And lays his arrows by. | |
If hindrances obstruct thy way, | |
Thy magnanimity display, | |
And let thy strength be seen; | |
But oh! if Fortune fill thy sail | |
With more than a propitious gale, | |
Take half thy canvas in! | |
— William Cowper | |
[My journal entry records this was written by “William Leowper”. I can find no Google results or Wikipedia entry for a “Leowper” and everything says this was written by “Cowper”, so I assume I just recorded it incorrectly. “To err is human…” — KMAB] | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | To Infinity And Beyond |
2014 | Taken Back |
2013 | Windows Or Doors |
2012 | All Rise |
2011 | Vote Weight |
Archive for March 10th, 2016
The Golden Mean
Posted in My Journal, Poetry, Quotes, tagged My Journal, Poems, Poetry, Quotes, The Golden Mean, William Cowper, William Leowper on March 10, 2016| Leave a Comment »