Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
II. Prayer and AspirationThe Aim
Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts (18601943)O T
The swift success, the instant goal,
But hast a lenient eye to mark
The failures of th’ inconstant soul,
The mean achievement, scamped in act,
The high resolve and low result,
The dream that durst not face the fact.
Let this be something in Thy sight:—
I have not, in the slothful dark,
Forgot the Vision and the Height.
To earth’s low ease will yield consent.
I praise Thee for my will to strive.
I bless Thy goad of discontent.