Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he
\nThat every man in arms should wish to be?
\n\u2014It is the generous Spirit, who, when brought
\nAmong the tasks of real life, hath wrought
\nUpon the plan that pleased his boyish thought:
\nWhose high endeavours are an inward light
\nThat makes the path before him always bright;
\nWho, with a natural instinct to discern
\nWhat knowledge can perform, is diligent to learn;
\nAbides by this resolve, and stops not there,
\nBut makes his moral being his prime care;
\nWho, doomed to go in company with Pain,
\nAnd Fear, and Bloodshed, miserable train!
\nTurns his necessity to glorious gain;
\nIn face of these doth exercise a power
\nWhich is our human nature’s highest dower:
\nControls them and subdues, transmutes, bereaves
\nOf their bad influence, and their good receives:
\nBy objects, which might force the soul to abate
\nHer feeling, rendered more compassionate;
\nIs placable\u2014because occasions rise
\nSo often that demand such sacrifice;
\nMore skilful in self-knowledge, even more pure,
\nAs tempted more; more able to endure,
\nAs more exposed to suffering and distress;
\nThence, also, more alive to tenderness.
\n\u2014’Tis he whose law is reason; who depends
\nUpon that law as on the best of friends;
\nWhence, in a state where men are tempted still
\nTo evil for a guard against worse ill,
\nAnd what in quality or act is best
\nDoth seldom on a right foundation rest,
\nHe labours good on good to fix, and owes
\nTo virtue every triumph that he knows:
\n\u2014Who, if he rise to station of command,
\nRises by open means; and there will stand
\nOn honourable terms, or else retire,
\nAnd in himself possess his own desire;
\nWho comprehends his trust, and to the same
\nKeeps faithful with a singleness of aim;
\nAnd therefore does not stoop, nor lie in wait
\nFor wealth, or honours, or for worldly state;
\nWhom they must follow; on whose head must fall,
\nLike showers of manna, if they come at all:
\nWhose powers shed round him in the common strife,
\nOr mild concerns of ordinary life,
\nA constant influence, a peculiar grace;
\nBut who, if he be called upon to face
\nSome awful moment to which Heaven has joined
\nGreat issues, good or bad for human kind,
\nIs happy as a Lover; and attired
\nWith sudden brightness, like a Man inspired;
\nAnd, through the heat of conflict, keeps the law
\nIn calmness made, and sees what he foresaw;
\nOr if an unexpected call succeed,
\nCome when it will, is equal to the need:
\n\u2014He who, though thus endued as with a sense
\nAnd faculty for storm and turbulence,
\nIs yet a Soul whose master-bias leans
\nTo homefelt pleasures and to gentle scenes;
\nSweet images! which, wheresoe’er he be,
\nAre at his heart; and such fidelity
\nIt is his darling passion to approve;
\nMore brave for this, that he hath much to love:\u2014
\n‘Tis, finally, the Man, who, lifted high,
\nConspicuous object in a Nation’s eye,
\nOr left unthought-of in obscurity,\u2014
\nWho, with a toward or untoward lot,
\nProsperous or adverse, to his wish or not\u2014
\nPlays, in the many games of life, that one
\nWhere what he most doth value must be won:
\nWhom neither shape or danger can dismay,
\nNor thought of tender happiness betray;
\nWho, not content that former worth stand fast,
\nLooks forward, persevering to the last,
\nFrom well to better, daily self-surpast:
\nWho, whether praise of him must walk the earth
\nFor ever, and to noble deeds give birth,
\nOr he must fall, to sleep without his fame,
\nAnd leave a dead unprofitable name\u2014
\nFinds comfort in himself and in his cause;
\nAnd, while the mortal mist is gathering, draws
\nHis breath in confidence of Heaven’s applause:
\nThis is the happy Warrior; this is he
\nThat every man in arms should wish to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he That every man in arms should wish to be? \u2014It is the generous Spirit, who, when brought Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought Upon the plan that pleased his boyish thought: Whose high endeavours are an inward light That makes the path before him always […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-64522","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"featured_image_urls":{},"yoast_head":"\n