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‹Better GutenbergMay-Day and Other PiecesFate · Horoscope · Power · Climacteric — Heri, Cras, Hodie · 48 of 59Contents›

May-Day and Other Pieces

by Ralph Waldo Emerson

48 of 59 · Contents · Download EPUB

Fate

Her planted eye to-day controls,
Is in the morrow most at home,
And sternly calls to being souls
That curse her when they come.

Horoscope

Ere he was born, the stars of fate
Plotted to make him rich and great:
When from the womb the babe was loosed,
The gate of gifts behind him closed.

Power

Cast the bantling on the rocks,
Suckle him with the she-wolf’s teat,
Wintered with the hawk and fox,
Power and speed be hands and feet.

Climacteric

I am not wiser for my age,
Nor skilful by my grief;
Life loiters at the book’s first page,—
Ah! could we turn the leaf.

Heri, Cras, Hodie

Shines the last age, the next with hope is seen,
To-day slinks poorly off unmarked between:
Future or Past no richer secret folds,
O friendless Present! than thy bosom holds.

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