Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). Complete Poetical Works. 1893.
Birds of PassageFlight the Second. Something Left Undone
L
Something still remains undone,
Something uncompleted still
Waits the rising of the sun.
At the threshold, near the gates,
With its menace or its prayer,
Like a mendicant it waits;
Waits, and will not be gainsaid;
By the cares of yesterday
Each to-day is heavier made;
Greater than our strength can bear,
Heavy as the weight of dreams,
Pressing on us everywhere.
Like the dwarfs of times gone by,
Who, as Northern legends say,
On their shoulders held the sky.