Hassan by James Elroy Flecker

Go as a pilgrim and seek out danger

far from the comfort

and the well lit avenues of life.

Pit your every soul against the unknown

and seek stimulation in the company of the brave.

Experience cold and hunger, heat and thirst

and survive to see

another challenge

and another dawn.

Only then will you be at peace

with yourself

and be able to know and to say;

“I look down the farthest side of the mountain,

and fulfilled and understanding all,

and truly content that

I lived a full life and one

that was of my own choice”

We are the Pilgrims, master; we shall go

Always a little further; it may be

Beyond that last blue mountain barred with snow

Across that angry or that glimmering sea