g
And bid curiosity pause.

Foremost in its rank of agents
Is a heavenly maid called Sleep,
Who stands in unbroken silence,
And ever her watch will keep
O'er mortals whose labors and trials
Seem heavy, oppressive, and deep.

Sometimes when sorrows are deepest
This maiden refuses relief;
She's no balm for the broken-hearted,
No cure for a head bowed with grief,
No soothing touch for the anguish
That robs like a heartless thief.

She flies from deep woe and sorrow
And recedes from the blinding tear;
Yet hastes to fatigue and trials
And offers to them smiles of cheer
Such as turn to joy and gladness,
Murky doubt and foreboding fear.

When death shall release the spirit
From its prison-house of vile clay,
It will speed to an elysian
Of a cloudless, unending day,
Where with others of its kindred,
It will find a rest for aye.

* * * * *

Well filled with murky ink,
When in my solitary den
I sit for hours to think,
And trace my thoughts in liquid flow
Upon some virgin page,
That in the future it may show
What thoughts my mind engage.

SUCCESS.

Success knows no diminution,
For failure hovers so near,
That with trace of slight dilution,
Success must cease to appear.

We look in vain for a substitute
To take the place of success;
A proxy saps its vital cords,
It dies of paralysis.

Nothing can take the place of success,
Its measure must be complete,
If slightest imperfection is found
It suffers a deadly defeat.

The marge that divides sturdy success
From failure grim and gaunt,
Is invisible space, but separates
Abundance from woe and want.

Like pack of wolves on army's trail,
Fell failure lives on distress,
Devouring with greed th' foul refuse
That falls from th' hands of success.

Success and failure closely abide--
Success has a palace fine,
While failure dwells in a dreary hut,
Like a herding place for swine.

Success may not always achieve
The object it has in view,
But lives while its motives and acts
Are earnest, noble, and true.

True failure can only be found
In a being devoid of heart,
Whose efforts and deeds are all dead,