So teach me to regard my day, How small a point my life appears; One gleam to death the whole betrays, A momentary flash of years. One moment smiles, the scene is past, Life's gaudy bloom at once we shed; And sink beneath affliction's blast, Or drop as soon among the dead. Short is the chain wound up at morn, Which oft runs down and stops at noon; Thus in a moment man is born, And lo! the creature dies as soon. Life's little torch, how soon forgot, Dim burning on its dreary shore; Just like that star which downwards shot, It glimmers and is seen no more. Teach me to draw this transient breath, With conscious awe my end to prove; Early to make my peace with death, As thus in haste from time we move. O Heaven, through this murky vale, Direct me with a burning pen; Thus shall I, on a tuneful gale, Fleet on my three score years and ten. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A SNOW-STORM; SCENE IN A VERMONT WINTER by CHARLES GAMAGE EASTMAN THE POTATOES' DANCE by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY REPRESSION OF WAR EXPERIENCE by SIEGFRIED SASSOON IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 54 by ALFRED TENNYSON SIR JOHN FRANKLIN; ON THE CENTOTAPH IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY by ALFRED TENNYSON THE AUTHOR'S PARTING ADDRESS TO THE MUSE by BERNARD BARTON THE LOVE SONNETS OF PROTEUS: 31. TO ONE WHO LOVED HIM by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT |