28.10.2007, 15:25
EVEN as yon lamp within my vacant room
With arduous flame disputes the doubtful night,
And can with its involuntary light
But lifeless things that near it stand illume ;
Yet all the while it doth itself consume,
And ere the sun hath reached his morning height
With courier beams that greet the shepherd's sight,
There where its life arose must be its tomb :
So wastes my life away. Perforce confined
To common things, a limit to its sphere,
It gleams on worthless trifles undesigned
With fainter ray each hour imprisoned here.
Alas to know that the consuming mind
Must leave its lamp cold ere the sun appear !
With arduous flame disputes the doubtful night,
And can with its involuntary light
But lifeless things that near it stand illume ;
Yet all the while it doth itself consume,
And ere the sun hath reached his morning height
With courier beams that greet the shepherd's sight,
There where its life arose must be its tomb :
So wastes my life away. Perforce confined
To common things, a limit to its sphere,
It gleams on worthless trifles undesigned
With fainter ray each hour imprisoned here.
Alas to know that the consuming mind
Must leave its lamp cold ere the sun appear !