Give all to love; <br />Obey thy heart; <br />Friends, kindred, days, <br />Estate, good-fame, <br />Plans, credit, and the Muse,- <br />Nothing refuse. <br />'Tis a brave master; <br />Let it have scope: <br />Follow it utterly, <br />Hope beyond hope: <br />High and more high <br />It dives into noon, <br />With wing unspent, <br />Untold intent; <br />But it is a god, <br />Knows its own path, <br />And the outlets of the sky. <br />It was not for the mean; <br />It requireth courage stout, <br />Souls above doubt, <br />Valor unbending; <br />It will reward,- <br />They shall return <br />More than they were, <br />And ever ascending. <br />Leave all for love; <br />Yet, hear me, yet, <br />One word more thy heart behoved, <br />One pulse more of firm endeavor,- <br />Keep thee today, <br />To-morrow, forever, <br />Free as an Arab <br />Of thy beloved. <br />Cling with life to the maid; <br />But when the surprise, <br />First vague shadow of surmise <br />Flits across her bosom young <br />Of a joy apart from thee, <br />Free be she, fancy-free; <br />Nor thou detain her vesture's hem, <br />Nor the palest rose she flung <br />From her summer diadem.<br /><br />Ralph Waldo Emerson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/give-all-to-love/
