<h2> Ambition and Art </h2>
<p>Ambition<br/></p>
<p>I am the maid of the lustrous eyes<br/>
Of great fruition,<br/>
Whom the sons of men that are over-wise<br/>
Have called Ambition.<br/>
<br/>
And the world's success is the only goal<br/>
I have within me;<br/>
The meanest man with the smallest soul<br/>
May woo and win me.<br/>
<br/>
For the lust of power and the pride of place<br/>
To all I proffer.<br/>
Wilt thou take thy part in the crowded race<br/>
For what I offer?<br/>
<br/>
The choice is thine, and the world is wide —<br/>
Thy path is lonely.<br/>
I may not lead and I may not guide —<br/>
I urge thee only.<br/>
<br/>
I am just a whip and a spur that smites<br/>
To fierce endeavour.<br/>
In the restless days and the sleepless nights<br/>
I urge thee ever.<br/>
<br/>
Thou shalt wake from sleep with a startled cry,<br/>
In fright upleaping<br/>
At a rival's step as it passes by<br/>
Whilst thou art sleeping.<br/>
<br/>
Honour and truth shall be overthrown<br/>
In fierce desire;<br/>
Thou shalt use thy friend as a stepping-stone<br/>
To mount thee higher.<br/>
<br/>
When the curtain falls on the sordid strife<br/>
That seemed so splendid,<br/>
Thou shalt look with pain on the wasted life<br/>
That thou hast ended.<br/>
<br/>
Thou hast sold thy life for a guerdon small<br/>
In fitful flashes;<br/>
There has been reward — but the end of all<br/>
Is dust and ashes.<br/>
<br/>
For the night has come and it brings to naught<br/>
Thy projects cherished,<br/>
And thine epitaph shall in brass be wrought —<br/>
'He lived and perished.'<br/></p>
<p>Art<br/></p>
<p>I wait for thee at the outer gate,<br/>
My love, mine only;<br/>
Wherefore tarriest thou so late<br/>
While I am lonely.<br/>
<br/>
Thou shalt seek my side with a footstep swift,<br/>
In thee implanted<br/>
Is the love of Art and the greatest gift<br/>
That God has granted.<br/>
<br/>
And the world's concerns with its rights and wrongs<br/>
Shall seem but small things —<br/>
Poet or painter, a singer of songs,<br/>
Thine art is all things.<br/>
<br/>
For the wine of life is a woman's love<br/>
To keep beside thee;<br/>
But the love of Art is a thing above —<br/>
A star to guide thee.<br/>
<br/>
As the years go by with thy love of Art<br/>
All undiminished,<br/>
Thou shalt end thy days with a quiet heart —<br/>
Thy work is finished.<br/>
<br/>
So the painter fashions a picture strong<br/>
That fadeth never,<br/>
And the singer singeth a wond'rous song<br/>
That lives for ever.<br/></p>
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