What if another sit beneath the shade 

Of the broad elm I planted by the way, 

What if another heed the beacon light 

I set upon the rock that wrecked my keel,-

Have I not done my task and served my kind?

Nay, rather act thy part, unnamed, unknown, 

And let Fame blow her trumpet through the world 

With noisy wind to swell a fool’s renown, 

Joined with some truth he stumbled blindly o’er, 

Or coupled with some single shining deed 

That in the great account of all his days 

Will stand alone upon the bankrupt sheet 

His pitying angel shows the clerk of Heaven.

The noblest service comes from nameless hands, 

And the best servant does his work unseen.

Who found the seeds of fire and made them shoot, 

Fed by his breath, in buds and flowers of flame?

Who forged in roaring flames the ponderous stone, 

And shaped the moulded metal to his need ?

Who gave the dragging car its rolling wheel, 

And tamed the steed that whirls its circling round ?

All these have left their work and not their names, 

Why should I murmur at a fate like theirs ?

This is the heavenly light; the pearly stain 

Was but a wind-cloud drifting o’er the stars!