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Part 22

Tales of a Wayside Inn · Henry Wadsworth Longfellow — chapter 22 of 39 · ~429 words · public domain

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1860.

SOMETHING LEFT UNDONE.

Labor with what zeal we will, Something still remains undone, Something uncompleted still Waits the rising of the sun.

By the bedside, on the stair, At the threshold, near the gates, With its menace or its prayer, Like a mendicant it waits;

Waits, and will not go away; Waits, and will not be gainsaid; By the cares of yesterday Each to-day is heavier made;

Till at length the burden seems Greater than our strength can bear, Heavy as the weight of dreams, Pressing on us everywhere.

And we stand from day to day, Like the dwarfs of times gone by, Who, as Northern legends say, On their shoulders held the sky.

WEARINESS.

O little feet! that such long years Must wander on through hopes and fears, Must ache and bleed beneath your load; I, nearer to the wayside inn Where toil shall cease and rest begin, Am weary, thinking of your road!

O little hands! that, weak or strong, Have still to serve or rule so long, Have still so long to give or ask; I, who so much with book and pen Have toiled among my fellow-men, Am weary, thinking of your task.

O little hearts! that throb and beat With such impatient, feverish heat, Such limitless and strong desires; Mine that so long has glowed and burned, With passions into ashes turned Now covers and conceals its fires.

O little souls! as pure and white And crystalline as rays of light Direct from heaven, their source divine; Refracted through the mist of years, How red my setting sun appears, How lurid looks this soul of mine!

THE END.

Cambridge: Stereotyped and Printed by Welch, Bigelow, & Co.

135, Washington St., Boston, NOVEMBER, 1863.

A List of Books

PUBLISHED BY

MESSRS. TICKNOR AND FIELDS.

---> Any book on this List sent POST-PAID, on receipt of the advertised price. For a more full description of the works here advertised, see Ticknor and Fields's "Descriptive Catalogue," which will be sent gratuitously to any address.

AGASSIZ'S (PROF. LOUIS) Methods of Study in Natural History. 1 vol. 16mo. $1.25.

ADDISON'S (JOSEPH) Sir Roger de Coverley. 1 vol. 16mo. 75 cts.

AUSTEN'S (JANE) Pride and Prejudice, and Northanger Abbey. 1 vol. 12mo. $1.25.

---- Mansfield Park. 1 vol. 12mo. $1.25.

---- Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasion. 1 vol. 12mo. $1.25.

---- Emma. 1 vol. 12mo. $1.25.

ADAMS'S (REV. DR.) Agnes and the Little Key; Or, Bereaved Parents Instructed and Comforted. 1 vol. 16mo. $1.00.

---- Catharine. 1 vol. 16mo. $1.00.

---- Bertha and her Baptism. 1 vol. 16mo. $1.00.

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