Nothing to Keep Under
You envy those whom all men greet
With favors never ceasing,
The men whose ways are so discreet
Their friends go on increasing,
Whose moods get more than they deserve,
Because not oft they blunder;
But, even when unkind, have nerve
To keep unkindness under.
You envy those whose lips imply
A smile for every neighbor,
Though all his deeds may give the lie
To truth for which they labor,—
Good, easy souls, who never need
To fret in wrath or wonder,
To feel how hard is life, indeed,
With so much to keep under.
You envy those whose calm consent,
Amid all earth’s mutations,
Can sail the sea of life content
With others’ observations;
Who entertain no wish for strife
Near shores where breakers thunder;
But hold a cautious helm to life,
And keep ambition under.
Hold friend—the good for which men yearn
Makes ill to them provoking;
And zeal it is, on fire to burn,
That fills its air with smoking.
If this be so, some day, your soul
A worth world-wide may sunder
From those who have—their self-control,
But nothing to keep under.