Poem by Ernest Charles Jones

Resignation

Written in the Infirmary of Westminster Prison,
during severe illness, November, 1849.

We all have our allotted task;
    Their burden all must bear—
For God gave us our faculties
    To use, and not to spare.

Full oft I would, how gladly! rest,
    When sinks the frame o'erwrought;
But ever the feeble barque must drive
    Before the mighty thought.

I know I might have lingered still
    A span, from year to year;
But on a world that used me ill
    I close a brief career.

This form is but the armour frail
    I wore in many a strife,
Thro' that long war with misery,
    Men christen—"human life."

I spar'd it not in storm or toil;
    And when I pass afar,
Death will have but a sorry spoil
    To grace a conqueror's car.

1. Prison Bars
2. Earth's Burdens
3. Too Soon
4. The Sea Shell on the Desert
5. Our Warning

Robert Service Resignation ("I’d hate to be centipede (of legs I’ve only two)")

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