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James Russell Lowell - For An Autograph
Work rating: Low

THOUGH old the thought and oft exprest, 
`Tis his at last who says it best, 
I`ll try my fortune with the rest. 
Life is a leaf of paper white 
Whereon each one of us may write 
His word or two, and then comes night. 

`Lo, time and space enough,` we cry, 
`To write an epic! ` so we try 
Our nibs upon the edge, and die. 
Muse not which way the pen to hold, 
Luck hates the slow and loves the bold, 
Soon come the darkness and the cold. 

Greatly begin! though thou have time 
But for a line, be that sublime, 
Not failure, but low aim, is crime. 
Ah, with what lofty hope we came! 
But we forget it, dream of fame, 
And scrawl, as I do here, a name.
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