Matthew Arnold — The Second Best

Moderate tasks and moderate leisure, Quiet living, strict-kept measure Both in suffering and in pleasure—        &nbsp'Tis for this thy nature yearns. But so many books thou readest, But so many schemes thou breedest, But so many wishes feedest,        &nbspThat thy poor head almost turns. And (the world's so madly jangled, Human things so fast entangled) Nature's wish must now be strangled        &nbspFor that best which she discerns. So it must be! yet, while leading A strain'd life, while overfeeding, Like the rest, his wit with reading,        &nbspNo small profit that man earns, Who through all he meets can steer him, Can reject what cannot clear him, Cling to what can truly cheer him;        &nbspWho each day more surely learns That an impulse, from the distance Of his deepest, best existence, To the words, "Hope, Light, Persistence,"        &nbspStrongly sets and truly burns.