Master of human destinies am I;
Fame, love, and fortune on my footsteps wait,
Cities and fields I walk; I penetrate
Deserts, and seas remote, and, passing by
Hovel, and mart, and palace, soon or late,
I knock unbidden once at every gate.
If sleeping, wake; if feasting, rise
Before I turn away. It is the hour of fate,
And those who follow me, gain every state
Mortals desire, and conquer every foe
Save Death, but those who doubt, or hesitate,
Condemned to failure, penury, and woe,
Seek me in vain, and uselessly implore.
I answer not, and I return no more.
--_U. S. Senator John J. Ingalls, of Kansas._
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