Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 1).pdf/476



Why there, you see then!

[firmly].

Yes, but all the same,— I must reject all pleas in such a cause. Staunch comrades we have been in times of dearth; Of life's disport she asks but little share, And I'm a homely fellow, long aware God made me for the ledger and the hearth. Let others emulate the eagle's flight, Life in the lowly plains may be as bright. What does his Excellency Goethe say About the white and shining milky way? Man may not there the milk of fortune skim, Nor is the butter of it meant for him.

Why, even were fortune-churning our life's goal, The labour must be guided by the soul;— Be citizens of the time that is—but then Make the time worthy of the citizen. In homely things lurks beauty, without doubt, But watchful eye and brain must draw it out. Not every man who loves the soil he turns May therefore claim to be another Burns.

Then let us each our proper path pursue, And part in peace; we shall not hamper you; We keep the road, you hover in the sky, There where we too once floated, she and I.