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George W. Cutter
Duty.
SLEPT and dreamed that life was beauty:
I woke and found that life was duty :
Was then thy dream a shadowy lie?
Toil on, sad heart, courageously, And thou shalt find thy dream to be A noonday light and truth to thee. $ True Rest.
WEET is the pleasure Itself cannot spoil!
Is not true leisure One with true toil?
Thou that wouldst taste it, Still do thy best; Use it, not waste it- Else 'tis no rest.
Wouldst behold beauty Near thee? all round?
Only hath duty Such a sight found.
Rest is not quitting The busy career ; Rest is the fitting Of self to its sphere. 'Tis the brook's motion, Clear without strife, Fleeing to ocean After its life.
Deeper devotion Nowhere hath knelt; Fuller emotion Heart never felt. 'Tis loving and serving The highest and best; 'Tis onwards! unswerving- And that is true rest.