THAT children in their loveliness should die Before the dawning beauty, which we know Cannot remain, has yet begun to go; That when a certain period has passed by, People of genius and of faculty, Leaving behind them some result to show, Having performed some function, should forego The task which younger hands can better ply, Appears entirely natural. But that one Whose perfectness did not at all consist In things towards forming which time can have done Anything, -- whose sole office was to exist, Should suddenly dissolve and cease to be Is the extreme of all perplexity. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: COONEY POTTER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SOLACE by CLARISSA SCOTT DELANY HIS CAVALIER by ROBERT HERRICK TO AN ETHICAL PREACHER by BRENT DOW ALLINSON VERSES FROM THE 'ANNALIA DUBRENSIA' by WILLIAM BASSE |