Receive, dear friend, the truths I teach, <br />So shalt thou live beyond the reach <br />Of adverse fortune's power; <br />Not always tempt the distant deep, <br />Nor always timorously creep <br />Along the treacherous shore. <br /> <br />He that holds fast the golden mean, <br />And lives contentedly between <br />The little and the great, <br />Feels not the wants that pinch the poor, <br />Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door, <br />Imbittering all his state. <br /> <br />The tallest pines feels most the power <br />Of wintry blast, the loftiest tower <br />Comes heaviest to the ground; <br />The bolts that spare the mountain's side, <br />His cloud-clapt eminence divide <br />And spread the ruin round. <br /> <br />The well-informed philosopher <br />Rejoices with a wholesome fear, <br />And hopes in spite of pain; <br />If winter bellow from the north, <br />Soon the sweet spring comes dancing forth, <br />And nature laughs again. <br /> <br />What if thine heaven be overcast, <br />The dark appearance will not last, <br />Expect a brighter sky; <br />The God that strings the silver bow <br />Awakes sometimes the muses too, <br />And lays his arrows by. <br /> <br />If hindrances obstruct thy way, <br />Thy magnanimity display, <br />And let thy strength be seen; <br />But oh! if Fortune fill thy sail <br />With more than a propitious gale, <br />Take half thy canvas in! <br /> <br />A REFLECTION ON THE FOREGOING ODE. <br /> <br />And is this all? Can reason do no more <br />Than bid me shun the deep and dread the shore? <br />Sweet moralist! afloat on life's rough sea <br />The Christian has an art unknown to thee; <br />He holds no parley with unmanly fears, <br />Where duty bids he confidently steers, <br />Faces a thousand dangers at her call, <br />And trusting in his God, surmount's them all.<br /><br />William Cowper<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/horace-book-ii-ode-x/
