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Rh Ultimate issues, primal springs,

Demands, abasements, penalties—

The imperishable plinth of things

Seen and unseen, that touch our peace.

For, though ensnaring ritual dim

His vision through the after-years,

Yet virtue shall go out of him:

Example profiting his peers.

With great things charged he shall not hold

Aloof till great occasion rise,

But serve, full-harnessed, as of old

The days that are the destinies.

He shall forswear and put away

The idols of his sheltered house;

And to Necessity shall pay

Unflinching tribute of his vows.

He shall not plead another's act,

Nor bind him in another's oath

To weigh the Word above the Fact,

Or make or take excuse for sloth.