James Vila Blake, Sonnets from Marcus Aurelius 31

31. 

ἢ τὸ μὲν τοῦ λύχνου φῶς, μέχρι σβεσθῇ, φαίνει καὶ τὴν αὐγὴν οὐκ ἀποβάλλει: ἡ δὲ ἐν σοὶ ἀλήθεια καὶ δικαιοσύνη καὶ σωφροσύνη προαποσβήσεται; 

A lighted lamp continues its glow and remits not its radiance until the flame is quenched; and shall the blaze of truth that is in you, and the light of justice and the beam of temperance be extinguished, while you yet exist here.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 12.15 

31. 

The night is long, the candle burneth low, 

Yet giveth me its faithfulness of light 

As when ’twas new and tall; ’tis constant so, 

And constant still will be, a golden sight.

Its upright pencil and unlessened shine 

Have been so from its first enkindled beam, 

And so will be until its stock decline 

And all its flesh dissolve as in a dream 

'Twere shame indeed if so the candle shame thee; 

For what, my soul! shall beamy powers that store thee 

With honor, soberness and peace, defame thee 

By smoky ire and going out before thee? 

Our ruling part divine, it is most sure, 

Should rule the while the ruled parts endure. 

* * * * * 

EPODE 

In sum: Doth thy soul lapse in poorer mine, 

Or am I quenched in thee?—that is the query. 

How can I answer, or in what design 

Marshal my hours now ultimate and weary? 

For should I crave thy glory’s rich estate, 

Then were thy better bounties for me crossed; 

Yet if before thy soul my soul abate, 

My freedom is engrossed in thee and lost. 

But we together, and both i' the sun, can walk, 

Commune of friend and foe, of sky and earth, 

Of trees, rains, rivers, birds, with starry talk; 

Yet in my way I have the dearer mirth: 

I hallow can, and chant, thy lofty light, 

As thou canst not my dimmer lowly plight.

IMAGE: Jan Moraczynski, Vanitas (1851)