James Vila Blake, Sonnets from Marcus Aurelius 10

10. 

Μὴ διαφέρου, πότερον ῥιγῶν ἢ θαλπόμενος τὸ πρέπον ποιεῖς, καὶ πότερον νυστάζων ἢ ἱκανῶς ὕπνου ἔχων, καὶ πότερον κακῶς ἀκούων ἢ εὐφημούμενος, καὶ πότερον ἀποθνῄσκων ἢ πράττων τι ἀλλοῖον: μία γὰρ τῶν βιωτικῶν πράξεων καὶ αὕτη ἐστί, καθ̓ ἣν ἀποθνῄσκομεν: ἀρκεῖ οὖν καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτης τὸ παρὸν εὖ θέσθαι. 

Let it not matter whether you are shivering or warm while doing your duty, or whether drowsy or having had enough sleep, or whether well spoken-of or ill, defamed or praised. And whether dying or doing something else, what matter? For this also is one of the acts of life, namely, to die. Therefore, as in all else, it is enough in this also to accomplish well the work in hand. 

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6.2 

10. 

How hither we come, this is not in our power, 

Nor to what ranks we shall be ushered in, 

Nor golden sun that riseth in his hour 

In what estate behold us, with what kin. 

Perhaps a king, a lord, a serf, a peasant, 

May be life’s business daily spun for me, 

And in a rigorous clime, or soft and pleasant, 

With labor hard, or all sweet-leisurely. 

But though I know not these, ’tis in my ken 

That of life’s ventures one part is to leave it; 

And as in all beside, the moment then 

Is life at full—none void and none reprieve it. 

Then up, my soul—for this I can foretell— 

And at that time manage my business well! 

IMAGE: Karl Hartmann, Warming Hands by the Fire (c. 1900)