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Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
He who has lived obscurely and quietly has lived well.
[Lat., Bene qui latuit, bene vixit.]
He who has lived obscurely and quietly has lived well.
[Lat., Bene qui latuit, bene vixit.]
Yet was he but a squire of low degree.
Yet was he but a squire of low degree.
As night the life-inclining stars best shows,
So lives obscure the starriest souls disclose.
As night the life-inclining stars best shows,
So lives obscure the starriest souls disclose.
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.
Like beauteous flowers which vainly waste their scent
Of odours in unhaunted deserts.
Like beauteous flowers which vainly waste their scent
Of odours in unhaunted deserts.
Thus let me live, unseen, unknown,
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not read more
Thus let me live, unseen, unknown,
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie.
She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A maid whom there were none read more
She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love.
How often the highest talent lurks in obscurity.
[Lat., Ut saepe summa ingenia in occulto latent!]
How often the highest talent lurks in obscurity.
[Lat., Ut saepe summa ingenia in occulto latent!]
