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Ralph Waldo Emerson - The Day's Ration

2014-11-07 17 Dailymotion

When I was born, <br />From all the seas of strength Fate filled a chalice, <br />Saying, This be thy portion, child; this chalice, <br />Less than a lily's, thou shalt daily draw <br />From my great arteries; nor less, nor more. <br />All substances the cunning chemist Time <br />Melts down into that liquor of my life, <br />Friends, foes, joys, fortunes, beauty, and disgust, <br />And whether I am angry or content, <br />Indebted or insulted, loved or hurt, <br />All he distils into sidereal wine, <br />And brims my little cup; heedless, alas! <br />Of all he sheds how little it will hold, <br />How much runs over on the desert sands. <br />If a new muse draw me with splendid ray, <br />And I uplift myself into her heaven, <br />The needs of the first sight absorb my blood, <br />And all the following hours of the day <br />Drag a ridiculous age. <br />To-day, when friends approach, and every hour <br />Brings book or starbright scroll of genius, <br />The tiny cup will hold not a bead more, <br />And all the costly liquor runs to waste, <br />Nor gives the jealous time one diamond drop <br />So to be husbanded for poorer days. <br />Why need I volumes, if one word suffice? <br />Why need I galleries, when a pupil's draught <br />After the master's sketch, fills and o'erfills <br />My apprehension? Why should I roam, <br />Who cannot circumnavigate the sea <br />Of thoughts and things at home, but still adjourn <br />The nearest matters to another moon? <br />Why see new men <br />Who have not understood the old?<br /><br />Ralph Waldo Emerson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-day-s-ration/

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