Coerced by Furies who persuaded me

That life was imminent with idleness,

Their jibes made mad, their lashes aided me

To grasp the accident of bitterness.

Come storm! I cried, come passion and despair,

For calm inhibits growth! - I called on fire

To sear my comfortable days, and wear

The nights to wastes of torment and desire.

Then pausing breathless, in a little wood

I met with Wisdom laughing in the sun;

She said, " Lie still, for idleness is good,

And grow in peace as I myself have done."