IF at one door stands life to cheat our trust, And at another, death, to mock because We thought life's promise good; if all that was And is and should be ends in fume and dust -- Then let us live for joy alone -- the rust Of ease encase our minds -- the grader laws Of souls be set aside. Let no man pause To weigh between his virtue and his lust. From first to last life baffles all our hopes Of aught but present bliss. Death waits to mock Our haste to indorse a visionary bond. Let pleasure dance us down earth's sunny slopes, And crown our heads with roses, ere the shock Of thunder falls. There is no life beyond? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AUTUMN MOVEMENT by CARL SANDBURG LE MEDECIN MALGRE LUI by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS THE ETERNAL GOODNESS by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER THE GODODDIN: CONAN by ANEIRIN AN EVENING PRAYER by BERNARD BARTON THE PAST by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT THE CANTERBURY TALES: THE SHIPMAN'S TALE by GEOFFREY CHAUCER |