Page:Poems (IA poemslowell00lowe).pdf/94

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MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.
All other glories are as falling stars,But universal Nature watching theirs:Such strength is won by love of human kind.
Not that I feel that hunger after fame,Which souls of a half-greatness are beset with;But that the memory of noble deedsCries, shame upon the idle and the vile,And keeps the heart of Man for ever upTo the heroic level of old time.To be forgot at first is little painTo a heart conscious of such high intentAs must be deathless on the lips of men;But, having been a name, to sink and beA something which the world can do without,Which, having been or not, would never changeThe lightest pulse of fate,—this is indeedA cup of bitterness the worst to taste,And this thy heart shall empty to the dregs,Endless despair shall be thy CaucasusAnd memory thy vulture; thou wilt findOblivion far lonelier than this peak,—
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