What Man May Learn, What Man May Do

WHAT man may learn, what man may do,

Of right or wrong of false or true,

While, skipper-like, his course he steers

Through nine and twenty mingled years,

Half misconceived and half forgot,

So much I know and practise not.

Old are the words of wisdom, old

The counsels of the wise and bold:

To close the ears, to check the tongue,

To keep the pining spirit young;

To act the right, to say the true,

And to be kind whate'er you do.

Thus we across the modern stage

Follow the wise of every age;

And, as oaks grow and rivers run

Unchanged in the unchanging sun,

So the eternal march of man

Goes forth on an eternal plan.