Two mysterious powers in life's excursion attend thee.
Happy it is for thee if they unite in thine aid.
One with enlivening art beguiles the wearisome journey:—
Light, as thou hangst on his arm, duty and destiny seem.
Merrily he conducts till, high on the pinnacle standing,
Down he bids thee peer over Eternity's sea.
Here with a resolute mien and grim the other awaits thee,
Bears thee over the deep with an imperious arm.
Never alone in one confide! To the former thine honour
Thou must never entrust, nor to the latter thine aims.