FAME AND DUTY.
WHAT shall I do, lest life in silence pass?"
And if it do,
And never prompt the bray of noisy brass,
What need'st thou rue?
Remember, aye, the ocean deeps are mute;
The shallows roar;
Worth is the ocean, fame is but the bruit
Along the shore."
"What shall I do to be forever known?"
"Thy duty ever."
"This did full many who yet sleep unknown."
"Oh, never, never!
Think'st thou perchance that they remain unknown
Whom thou know'st not?
By angel trumps in Heaven their praise is blown;
Divine their lot."
"What shall I do to gain eternal life?"
"Discharge aright
The simple duties with which each day is rife,
Yea, with thy might.
Ere perfect scene of action thou devise,
Will life be fled,
While he who ever acts as conscience cries,
Shall live, though dead."
Arthur Hugh Clough.