Not in the fabled influence of some star, Benign or evil, do our fortunes lie; We are the arbiters of destiny, Lords of the life we either make or mar. We are our own impediment and bar To noble endings. With distracted eye We let the golden moment pass us by, Time's foolish spendthrifts, searching wide and far For what lies close at hand. To serve our turn We ask fair wind and favorable tide. From the dead Danish sculptor let us learn To make Occasion, not to be denied: Against the sheer precipitous mountain-side Thorwaldsen carved his Lion at Lucerne.