To-day

            John Boyle O' Reilly (1844-1890)
 

Only from day to day
The life of a wise man runs;
What matters if seasons far away
Have gloom and have double suns?


To climb the unreal path
We stray from the road way here
We swim the rivers of wrath
We tunnel the hills of fear.


Our feet on the torrent's brink,
Our eyes on the clouds afar,
We fear the things we think,
Instead of the things that are.


Only from day to day
The life of a wise man runs;
What matters if seasons far away
Have gloom and have doubled suns?


Like a tide our work should rise,
Each latest wave the best;
"Today is a king in disguise"
Today is the special test.


Like a sawyer's work is life -
The present makes the flaw
And the only field for strife
Is that inch before the saw.


Only from day to day
The life of a wise man runs;
What matters if seasons far away
Have gloom and have doubled suns?