Read "A Sculptor" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
As the ambitious sculptor, tireless, lifts / Chisel and hammer to the block at hand, / Before my half-formed character I stand / And ply the shining tools of mental gifts. / I'll cut away a huge, unsightly side / Of selfishness, and smooth to curves of grace / The angles of ill-temper.
And no trace / Shall my sure hammer leave of silly pride. / Chip after chip must fall from vain desires, / And the sharp corners of my discontent / Be rounded into symmetry, and lent / Great harmony by faith that never tires. / Unfinished still, I must toil on and on, / Till the pale critic, Death, shall say, "Tis done. "