Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.

Poems of Sentiment: VI. Labor and Rest

Haste not! Rest not!

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)

WITHOUT haste! without rest!

Bind the motto to thy breast;

Bear it with thee as a spell:

Storm and sunshine guard it well!

Heed not flowers that round thee bloom,

Bear it onward to the tomb.

Haste not! Let no thoughtless deed

Mar for aye the spirit’s speed;

Ponder well, and know the right;

Onward, then, with all thy might.

Haste not! Years can ne’er atone

For one reckless action done.

Rest not! Life is sweeping by;

Go and dare before you die:

Something mighty and sublime

Leave behind to conquer time!

Glorious ’t is to live for aye,

When these forms have passed away.

Haste not! Rest not! Calmly wait;

Meekly bear the storms of fate!

Duty be thy polar guide,—

Do the right, whate’er betide!

Haste not! Rest not! Conflicts past,

God shall crown thy work at last.