Ralph Waldo Emerson

Heroism

Ruby wine is drunk by knaves,
Sugar spends to fatten slaves,
Rose and vine—leaf deck buffoons;
Thunder—clouds are Jove’s festoons,
Drooping oft in wreaths of dread,
Lightning—knotted round his head;
The hero is not fed on sweets,
Daily his own heart he eats;
Chambers of the great are jails,
And head—winds right for royal sails.
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