Better to sink with tempests raging o'erMasts all dismantled and hull gaping wideThan rest and rot on some unclouded shoreThe idle plaything of the listless tide.Better the grime of battle on the brow,With grim defeat to crush thy dying handThan through long years of peace to tyrant bowOr dwell captive in a strangers land.Better the castle with beleaguered gate,By battle's lightning shivered in a dayThan peaceful walls in pomp of sullen state,Through centuries sinking to a dull decay.Better resolve to win thy heart's desire,And striving bravely, die in the endeavorThan have the embers of some smothered fireLie smouldering in thy saddened soul forever.
