Said Genius, ‘Yonder ghostly ruin stands
A blot and blemish on surrounding lands;
Let’s fling sweet, blooming fancies everywhere.’
Soon all the world in wonder came to stare.
‘Come, come!’ Ambition cried; ‘Pray, do be gone
From this dull place: I would go further on.’
‘There lies,’ said Genius, ‘up on yonder peak
A Prize, alone, I have not cared to seek.’
Up, up they went—as swift, as sure as Time,
They seemed to soar: (in truth they did but climb),
And there in sight of all the world beneath—
Ambition crowned fair Genius with a wreath.
All day they journeyed, swift from place to place;
Ambition led, and Genius joined the chase.
In every realm of fancy, or of thought,
All depths they sounded, and all heights they sought.
Now hand in hand for evermore they stray,
And if they part, or quarrel for a day,
You’ll find Ambition, aimless, reckless, wild,
And Genius moping, like an idle child.
I DIDN’T THINK
If all the troubles in the world
Were traced back to their start,
We’d find not one in ten begun
From want of willing heart.
But there’s a sly, woe-working elf
Who lurks about youth’s brink,
And sure dismay he brings alway—
The elf, ‘I didn’t think.’
He seems so sorry when he’s caught;
His mien is all contrite;
He so regrets the woe he wrought,
And wants to make things right.
But wishes do not heal a wound
Or weld a broken link;
The heart aches on, the link is gone,
All through—‘I didn’t think.’
I half believe that ugly sprite,
Bold, wicked, ‘I don’t care,’
In life’s long run less harm has done
Because he is so rare;
And one can be so stern with him,
Can make the monster shrink;
But, lack a day, what can we say
To whining ‘Didn’t think’?
This most unpleasant imp of strife
Pursues us everywhere.
There’s scarcely one whole day of life
He does not cause us care;
Small woes and great he brings the world,
Strong ships are forced to sink,
And trains from iron track are hurled, alack,
By stupid ‘Didn’t think.’