Self-Possession Poem by Martin Farquhar Tupper

Whirling, eddying, ebbing Present,
Foamy tide of strife and noise,
Mingled-bitter, mingled-pleasant,
Loves and worries, cares and joys,--
O ye changing chancing surges!
Calmly doth my mind forecast
How your restless spirit merges
In the Future and the Past!

Lo, I stand your master-pilot;
Though the cataracts be near,
Safe I swing round rock or islet,
Strong and still, and god-like Here!
Stout I stand, and sway the tiller
Through these rapids glancing down,
While the very flood flows stiller,
Frozen by my monarch-frown!

O'er the rock-entangled shallows
Staunch I steer, adown the stream;
And the Past the Present hallows
With its melancholy dream,--
And the Future, nearing surely
Like Niagara's cliff ahead,
Steadily I reach, securely
As a child that feels no dread!

Yea, though Earth be torn asunder,--
Or the secret heart be vext,--
Though with elemental thunder
Or by petty cares perplext,
Still I stand, and rule the riot;
Still my deep calm soul is blest
With its own imperial quiet,
The sublimity of Rest!

For, a staunch and stalworth true man,
Fearing God, and none beside,--
Nothing more, nor less, than human,
Nothing human can betide
That may disenthrone a spirit
Doom'd to reign in Time's decay,
Grandly fated to inherit
Endless peace in endless Day!