Oh, many a shaft at random sent

Finds mark the archer little meant!

And many a word at random spoken

May soothe, or wound, a heart that's broken!

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832): Lord of the Isles. Canto v. Stanza 18.

Oh, many a shaft at random sent

Finds mark the archer little meant!

And many a word at random spoken

May soothe, or wound, a heart that's broken!

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832): Lord of the Isles. Canto v. Stanza 18.

Go boldly forth, my simple lay,

Whose accents flow with artless ease,

Like orient pearls at random strung.

Sir William Jones (1746-1794): A Persian Song of Hafiz.

I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty;

I woke, and found that life was Duty.

Was thy dream then a shadowy lie?

Toil on, poor heart, unceasingly;

And thou shalt find thy dream to be

A truth and noonday light to thee.

Ellen Sturgis Hooper (1816-1841): Life a Duty.

Go boldly forth, my simple lay,

Whose accents flow with artless ease,

Like orient pearls at random strung.

Sir William Jones (1746-1794): A Persian Song of Hafiz.