Fortitude
Duty has called. Her unrelenting
hand1
Points sternly to the desert, bids me go
:2
Nor dare I strive her dictates to withstand.3
Be brave, my heart, to bear the bitter throe !4
To gain the summit must thou breast the slope,5
To earn the crown thou needs must face the fight ;6
High overhead calm shines the star of hope,7
The morning dawns from out the darkest night.8
Let firm-set lips, and level-fronting brow9
Proclaim thy right to suffer silently :10
The brute may cry against his fate, but thou11
Shalt win because of thy divinity ;12
Prometheus-like shalt conquer circumstance,13
And claim the worlds for thine inheritance.14