Life! Austere arbiter of each man's fate, br By whom he learns that Nature's steadfast laws br Are as decrees immutable; O pause br Your even forward march! Not yet too late br Teach me the needed lesson, when to wait br Inactive as a ship when no wind draws br To stretch the loosened cordage. One implores br Thy clemency, whose wilfulness innate br Has gone uncurbed and roughshod while the years br Have lengthened into decades; now distressed br He knows no rule by which to move or stay, br And teased with restlessness and desperate fears br He dares not watch in silence thy wise way br Bringing about results none could have guessed.