Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
Rest
By John Sullivan Dwight (18131893)S
Itself cannot spoil!
Is not true leisure
One with true toil?
Still do thy best;
Use it, not waste it—
Else ’tis no rest.
Near thee? all round?
Only hath duty
Such a sight found.
The busy career;
Rest is the fitting
Of self to its sphere.
Clear without strife,
Fleeing to ocean
After its life.
Nowhere hath knelt;
Fuller emotion
Heart never felt.
The highest and best;
’Tis onwards! unswerving—
And that is true rest.