Charles Anderson Dana (1819–1897)

OH loiterer, that dalliest with thy dreams,

Content to watch thyself in graceful ease,

While clang of steel burdens each passing breeze,

And all the air is radiant with its gleams;

Where noble hearts, as noble heart beseems,

Answer the world’s great cry with earnest deeds,

Fulfilling thus their own most inward needs;

Is there no Spartan nerve in all thy frame

That feels the summons to that solemn field!

And canst thou then its sacred honors yield,

And the high guerdon of eternal fame,

For purple skies and wreaths of fading flowers,

And the short lustre of these flitting hours?