Why should I chafe and fret myself to find
Some pebble still untouched upon the beach,
Where struggling wavelets follow each on each
Upon the tide-mark of advancing Mind?
If, one with them and urged by those behind,
My utmost energy at last should reach
A stone unwetted by a bubble's breach,
What gain were it to me or to my kind?

Though I should fail that further inch to go,
Some other soon will creep its rugged floor,
While, resting on the conquered strand below,
I calmly watch the rivalry before,
Rejoicing at the steady onward flow,
But at my new-found peace rejoicing more.