So brief a life, and then an endless life Or endless death; So brief a life, then endless peace or strife: Whoso considereth How man but like a flower Or shoot of grass Blooms an hour, Well may sigh "Alas!" So brief a life, and then an endless grief Or endless joy; So brief a life, then ruin or relief: What solace, what annoy Of Time needs dwelling on? It is, it was, It is done, While we sigh "Alas!" Yet saints are singing in a happy hope Forecasting pleasure, Bright eyes of faith enlarging all their scope; Saints love beyond Time's measure: Where love is, there is bliss That will not pass; Where love is, Dies away "Alas!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ISOLATION by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON BRUTUS AND ANTONY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS CAPUT MORTUUM by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON THE HERETIC: 3. MOCKERY by LOUIS UNTERMEYER ALL IS VANITY, SAITH THE PREACHER' by GEORGE GORDON BYRON A PRAISE OF HIS LOVE by HENRY HOWARD THE LITTLE TURTLE by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY |