I'VE seen my day before its noon decline,
And dark is still the future, nor, alas!
Can Hope, with all the magic of her gla**,
Irradiate the deep gloom which fate malign
Has gather'd round;--yet will I not repine;
For tho' the courage, that can do and dare,
Be brightest glory, unsubdued to bear,
That calmer, better virtue may be mine;--
For this is of the mind;--to slay, be slain,
Asks but a moment's energies, and Fame
First wakens and then keeps alive the flame;
But Patience must itself, itself sustain,
And must itself reward, nor hope to find
The praise or the compa**ion of mankind.