The Day's Ration

When I was born,     From all the seas of strength Fate filled a chalice,     Saying, 'This be thy portion, child; this chalice,     Less than a lily's, thou shalt daily draw     From my great arteries,--nor less, nor more.'     All substances the cunning chemist Time     Melts down into that liquor of my life,--     Friends, foes, joys, fortunes, beauty and disgust.     And whether I am angry or content,     Indebted or insulted, loved or hurt,     All he distils into sidereal wine     And brims my little cup; heedless, alas!     Of all he sheds how little it will hold,     How much runs over on the desert sands.     If a new Muse draw me with splendid ray,     And I uplift myself into its heaven,     The needs of the first sight absorb my blood,     And all the following hours of the day     Drag a ridiculous age.     To-day, when friends approach, and every hour     Brings book, or starbright scroll of genius,     The little cup will hold not a bead more,     And all the costly liquor runs to waste;     Nor gives the jealous lord one diamond drop     So to be husbanded for poorer days.     Why need I volumes, if one word suffice?     Why need I galleries, when a pupil's draught     After the master's sketch fills and o'erfills     My apprehension? Why seek Italy,     Who cannot circumnavigate the sea     Of thoughts and things at home, but still adjourn     The nearest matters for a thousand days?