<h2><SPAN name="poem76"></SPAN>NOBLESSE OBLIGE</h2>
<p class="poetry">I hold it the duty of one who is gifted<br/>
And specially dowered in all men’s sight,<br/>
To know no rest till his life is lifted<br/>
Fully up to his great gifts’ height.</p>
<p class="poetry">He must mould the man into rare
completeness,<br/>
For gems are set only in gold refined.<br/>
He must fashion his thoughts into perfect sweetness.<br/>
And cast out folly and pride from his mind.</p>
<p class="poetry">For he who drinks from a god’s gold
fountain<br/>
Of art or music or rhythmic song<br/>
Must sift from his soul the chaff of malice,<br/>
And weed from his heart the roots of wrong.</p>
<p class="poetry">Great gifts should be worn, like a crown
befitting,<br/>
And not like gems in a beggar’s hands!<br/>
And the toil must be constant and unremitting<br/>
Which lifts up the king to the crown’s
demands.</p>
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