Worldly Place + 

Even in a palace, life may be led well! + 

So spake the imperial sage, purest of men, + 

Marcus Aurelius.⁠—But the stifling den + 

Of common life, where, crowded up pell-mell, + 

Our freedom for a little bread we sell, + 

And drudge under some foolish master’s ken, + 

Who rates us, if we peer outside our pen⁠— + 

Match’d with a palace, is not this a hell? + 

Even in a palace! On his truth sincere, + 

Who spoke these words, no shadow ever came; + 

And when my ill-school’d spirit is aflame + 

Some nobler, ampler stage of life to win, + 

I’ll stop, and say: “There were no succour here! + 

The aids to noble life are all within.” + 