THOUGH THOU HAST CLIMBED, a poem

THOUGH thou hast climbed, by patient effort slow,
     O'er barriers that thy course denied,
And from proud summits gazest down below—
               Self-satisfied;

Though thou hast felt the clouds beneath thy feet,
     And to past triumphs fond returning,
Wakest no more, sublimer heights to greet
               With upward yearning,—

Better for thee hadst thou been taught to bow,
     Through lengthening years of blest probation,
Looking to something loftier than thou,
               In adoration:

Better for thee had thine unconquered will,
     So scornful of restraining bars—
Been held earth's captive thrall, thy strivings still
               Unto the Stars!

"Though thou hast climbed" by Florence Earle Coates. Published in Poems (1898) and Poems (1916) Volume II.