Thorwaldsen

Thomas Bailey Aldrich 1836 (Portsmouth) – 1907 (Boston)



Not in the fabled influence of some star,
Benign or evil, do our fortunes lie;
We are the arbiters of destiny,
Lords of the life we either make or mar.
We are our own impediment and bar
To noble endings. With distracted eye
We let the golden moment pass us by,
Time's foolish spendthrifts, searching wide and far
For what lies close at hand. To serve our turn
We ask fair wind and favorable tide.
From the dead Danish sculptor let us learn
To make Occasion, not to be denied:
Against the sheer precipitous mountain-side
Thorwaldsen carved his Lion at Lucerne.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 18, 2023

31 sec read
101

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCAABBADEDEED
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 567
Words 103
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Thomas Bailey Aldrich was a poet novelist traveler and editor more…

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