The day approaches, when we must Be crumbling bones and windy dust; And scorn us as our mistress may, Her beauty will no better be Than the poor face she slights in thee, When dawns that day, that day. THE SECOND BEST Moderate tasks and moderate leisure, Quiet living, strict-kept measure Both in suffering and in pleasure-- 'Tis for this thy nature yearns. But so many books thou readest, But so many schemes thou breedest, But so many wishes feedest, That thy poor head almost turns. And (the world's so madly jangled, Human things so fast entangled) Nature's wish must now be strangled For that best which she discerns. So it _must_ be! yet, while leading A strain'd life, while overfeeding, Like the rest, his wit with reading, No small profit that man earns, Who through all he meets can steer him, Can reject what cannot clear him, Cling to what can truly cheer him; Who each day more surely learns That an impulse, from the distance Of his deepest, best existence, To the words, "Hope, Light, Persistence," Strongly sets and truly burns. CONSOLATION Mist clogs the sunshine. Smoky dwarf houses Hem me round everywhere; A vague dejection Weighs down my soul. Yet, while I languish, Everywhere countless Prospects unroll themselves, And countless beings Pass countless moods. Far hence, in Asia, On the smooth convent-roofs, On the gilt terraces, Of holy Lassa, Bright shines the sun. Grey time-worn marbles Hold the pure Muses; In their cool gallery, By yellow Tiber, They still look fair. Strange unloved uproar[A] Shrills round their portal; Yet not on Helicon Kept they more cloudless Their noble calm. Through sun-proof alleys In a lone, sand-hemm'd City of Africa, A blind, led beggar, Age-bow'd, asks alms. No bolder robber Erst abode ambush'd Deep in the sandy waste; No clearer eyesight Spied prey afar. Saharan sand-winds Sear'd his keen eyeballs; Spent is the spoil he won. For him the present Holds only pain. Two young, fair lovers, Where the warm June-wind, Fresh from the summer fields Plays fondly round them, Stand, tranced in joy.