Even in a palace, life may be led well! <br /> So spake the imperial sage, purest of men, <br /> Marcus Aurelius. But the stifling den <br /> Of common life, where, crowded up pell-mell, <br /> <br /> Our freedom for a little bread we sell, <br /> And drudge under some foolish master's ken <br /> Who rates us if we peer outside our pen-- <br /> Match'd with a palace, is not this a hell? <br /> <br /> Even in a palace! On his truth sincere, <br /> Who spoke these words, no shadow ever came; <br /> And when my ill-school'd spirit is aflame <br /> <br /> Some nobler, ampler stage of life to win, <br /> I'll stop, and say: 'There were no succour here! <br /> The aids to noble life are all within.'<br /><br />Matthew Arnold<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/worldly-place/
