VAIN are those joys that erring man provides, Vain the pursuit of sublunary things! Wisdom the sandy edifice derides, Scoffs at the fading pageantry of kings. Sooner some witless trifler shall essay To carve the image on the quivering flame, Than wrest contentment from a single day Given to the world, to pleasure, wealth, or fame. The noontide of Lorenzo's joy is o'er, And youth's intoxicating smiles are gone; The world's fantastic scenes delight no more; Loud-laughing mirth, and wit and jest are flown. Yet these are trivial losses, and he feels A thousand woes than these far more intense; With soul-distracting pangs of guilt he reels, While threatening Death demands his victim hence. Quick o'er his lonely couch pale Sickness throws The trembling horrors of some dire disease: To injured Heaven he pours his impious vows; But vows, nor prayers, his frighted soul appease. Alas, Lorenzo! what avail thee now The gifts of Fortune, or the phantom Power, Those idols, deaf and dumb, that ne'er bestow One solid comfort in the trying hour? As soon the traveller on his darksome way, Benumbed with winds and chilling frost, shall gain New warmth and vigour from the feeble ray Of meteors gliding through th' ethereal plain. To what new system shall Lorenzo fly? Shall 'moral rectitude' his soul secure? What 'deed' the force of quickening grace supply? Or 'conscious virtue' make the sinner pure? Say, can the tinkling of the neighbouring stream The riches of the Gospel truths convey? Or can the glow-worm, with her languid beam, Unfold the glories of immortal day? As soon shall these the wondrous task perform, To wounded minds the healing balm impart, As Man -- vain, impotent, self-righteous worm -- With aught but faith console his aching heart. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TELLING THE BEES by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER THE GROANS OF THE TANKARD by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD PROVERBS 31:25-29. THE MOTHER OF THE HOUSE by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE THE LOVE SONNETS OF PROTEUS: 40. FAREWELL TO JULIET (2) by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT RECOLLECTION by CONRAD CHITTICK LINES SUGGESTED BY THE LAST WORDS OF BERENGARIUS by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE |