Too shrewd a phrase, by which the start is checked!
It shuns bold acts and dallies to reflect,
And, coldly calculating, thrusts away
For some To-morrow’s sake the sure To-day;
It brings the chance of happiness to naught
For many, who too much upon the end have thought.
Daring, beginning, lies in each man’s hand;
The end no sage’s eye has ever scanned.
It does not come by such a course at last
As by the purblind reasoner was forecast.