Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LIFE, by BRYAN WALLER PROCTER


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LIFE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: We are born; we laugh; we weep
Last Line: "endure and -- die?"
Alternate Author Name(s): Cornwall, Barry; Proctor, Bryan Waller
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The


We are born; we laugh; we weep;
We love; we droop; we die!
Ah! wherefore do we laugh or weep?
Why do we live or die?
Who knows that secret deep?
Alas not I!
Why doth the violet spring
Unseen by human eye?
Why do the radiant seasons bring
Sweet thoughts that quickly fly?
Why do our fond hearts cling
To things that die?
We toil -- through pain and wrong;
We fight -- and fly;
We love; we lose; and then, ere long,
Stone-dead we lie,
O life! is all thy song
"Endure and -- die?"




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