Life! I know not what thou art, But know that thou and I must part; And when, or how, or where we met I own to me's a secret yet. But this I know, when thou art fled, Where'er they lay these limbs, this head, No clod so valueless shall be, As all that then remains of me. O, whither, whither dost thou fly, Where bend unseen thy trackless course, And in this strange divorce, Ah, tell where I must seek this compound I? To the vast ocean of empyreal flame, From whence thy essence came, Dost thou thy flight pursue, when freed From matter's base uncumbering weed? Or dost thou, hid from sight, Wait, like some spell-bound knight, Through blank, oblivious years the appointed hour To break thy trance and reassume thy power? Yet canst thou, without thought of feeling be? O, say what art thou, when no more thou'rt thee? Life! we've been long together, Through pleasant and through cloudy weather; 'T is hard to part when friends are dear, -- Perhaps 't will cost a sigh, a tear: Then steal away, give little warning, Choose thine own time; Say not Good Night, -- but in some brighter clime Bid me Good Morning. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PRAYERS by HENRY CHARLES BEECHING AN OLD WOMAN OF THE ROADS by PADRAIC COLUM THE OWL CRITIC by JAMES THOMAS FIELDS THE CITY IN THE SEA by EDGAR ALLAN POE TO LADY ANNE HAMILTON by WILLIAM ROBERT SPENCER LINES ON THE MONUMENT OF GIUSEPPE MAZZINI by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE THE FLITCH OF BACON: MY OLD COMPLAINT (ITS CAUSE AND CURE) by WILLIAM HARRISON AINSWORTH |