To-day is a thought, a fear is to-morrow, And yesterday is our sin and our sorrow; And life is a death, Where the body's the tomb, And the pale sweet breath Is buried alive in its hideous gloom. Then waste no tear, For we are the dead; the living are here, In the stealing earth, and the heavy bier. Death lives but an instant, and is but a sigh, And his son is unnamed immortality, Whose being is thine. Dear ghost, so to die Is to live, -- and life is a worthless lie. -- Then we weep for ourselves, and wish thee goodbye. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LOVER PLEADS WITH HIS FRIENDS FOR OLD FRIENDS by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS BOSTON HYMN; READ IN MUSIC HALL, JANUARY 1, 1863 by RALPH WALDO EMERSON TO HELEN (2) by EDGAR ALLAN POE THE NOTHING REDEMPTION by BRUCE WEIGL THE FIRST-FOOT by ALEXANDER ANDERSON THE ESTRANGEMENT by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |