What art thou, Life? The shadow of a dream: The past and future dwell in thought alone; The present, ere we note its flight, is gone; And all ideal, vain, fantastic, seem. Whence is thy source? And whither dost thou tend? So short thy period, and thy form so frail; Poor prisoner! pent in Death's surrounding vale, Born but to breathe, to suffer, and to end. Why, Shadow, bring'st thou on thy raven wing Dark trains of grief and visions of the night, Rather than graces robed in purple light, Elysian flowers and love's unclouded spring, Since sad or gay, whatever be thy theme, Death surely ends at once the dreamer and the dream? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TROY PARK: 5. THE CAT by EDITH SITWELL CINQUAIN: NIGHT WINDS by ADELAIDE CRAPSEY WOODNOTES: 2 by RALPH WALDO EMERSON WAPENTAKE; TO ALFRED TENNYSON by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW A PRAYER FOR A VERY NEW ANGEL by VIOLET ALLEYN STOREY TWO THINGS by AMIR MAHMUD IBN AMIR YAMINU'D-DIN TUGHRA'I TO CHILDREN: 5. DAME HOLIDAY by WILLIAM ROSE BENET JOB. THE INSCRUTABLE MYSTERY by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE PROLOGUE FOR THE SILVERDALE VILLAGE PLAYERS: EASTER 1922 by GORDON BOTTOMLEY |