Matthew Arnold: From the Hymn of Empedocles
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From the Hymn of Empedocles

1822-1888

IS it so small a thing
         To have enjoy'd the sun,
         To have lived light in the spring,
         To have loved, to have thought, to have done;
To have advanced true friends, and beat down baffling foes;

         That we must feign a bliss
         Of doubtful future date,
         And while we dream on this
         Lose all our present state,
And relegate to worlds yet distant our repose?

         Not much, I know, you prize
         What pleasures may be had,
         Who look on life with eyes
         Estranged, like mine, and sad:
And yet the village churl feels the truth more than you;

         Who 's loth to leave this life
         Which to him little yields:
         His hard-task'd sunburnt wife,
         His often-labour'd fields;
The boors with whom he talk'd, the country spots he knew.

         But thou, because thou hear'st
         Men scoff at Heaven and Fate;
         Because the gods thou fear'st
         Fail to make blest thy state,
Tremblest, and wilt not dare to trust the joys there are.

         I say, Fear not! life still
         Leaves human effort scope.
         But, since life teems with ill,
         Nurse no extravagant hope.
Because thou must not dream, thou need'st not then despair.


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