Some Thoughts

When I consider how my light is spent,
E’re half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one Talent which is death to hide,
Lodg’d with me useless, though my Soul more bent

To serve therewith my Maker, and present [ 5 ]
My true account, least he returning chide,
Doth God exact day labour, light deny’d,
I fondly ask; But patience to prevent

That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts, who best [ 10 ]
Bear his milde yoak, they serve him best, his State

Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’re Land and Ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and waite

- John Milton, Sonnet 19

(Milton was going blind, and still had his magnum opus, Paradise Lost (and Regain’d) ahead of him. He would memorize the next passage of his poem, then a close relative would visit every few days and set it to paper. Amazing!)