To the scene of life now closes Time, farewell to thee; Oh! that I could die like Moses, Drop and strangely flee; I'm gone, amen -- I'm gone forever, My eternal debt to pay; To return again more never, Torn from earth away. Flesh and spirit clept asunder, With the flight of breath; Halt my soul, look down and wonder, After gloom of death; But let no sobbing tones attend it, Hide! oh hide! the lifeless frame; Sobs and tears can never mend it, All must die the same. Man is born not long to tarry, A bloom of swift decay; Death like lightning flies to carry Souls from time away. His worthless jaw is but a bubble, Mortal, what is fortune's crown. Groping thro' a maze of trouble, What is vain renown. Life is but a cloud of sorrow, Oh! but soon to close; I'm here today, but gone to-morrow, To my long repose. See, see, how fast in fate's dark ocean, Mortals sink beneath the wave; From a stage of proud devotion, Onward to the grave. Life's dull blush, no spring retrieves it, Left without a bloom; Which, when transient summer leaves it, Blossoms for the tomb. Then, oh my soul, forbear to languish, Drop thy mantle on the shore; Sing, oh death, where is thy anguish, Lost and felt no more. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN by ROBERT BROWNING WILLIAM AND HELEN by GOTTFRIED AUGUST BURGER DON JUAN: DEDICATION [OR, INVOCATION] by GEORGE GORDON BYRON THE MOUSE'S LULLABY by PALMER COX ASPECTS OF THE PINES by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE A SUNRISE SONG by SIDNEY LANIER THE CHARACTER OF HOLLAND by ANDREW MARVELL REASONABLE MELANCHOLY by JOSEPH BEAUMONT UPON MY FATHERS SUDDEN & DANGEROUS SICKNESS by JOSEPH BEAUMONT |