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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MUTATION, by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT Poet's Biography
First Line: They talk of short-lived pleasure - be it so
Last Line: A stable changeless state, 'twere cause indeed to weep.
Subject(s): Change; Transience; Impermanence
First Line: They talk of short-lived pleasure - be it so
Last Line: A stable changeless state, 'twere cause indeed to weep.
Subject(s): Change; Transience; Impermanence
THEY talk of short-lived pleasure -- be it so --
Pain dies as quickly: stem, hard-featured pain
Expires, and lets her weary prisoner go.
The fiercest agonies have shortest reign;
And after dreams of horror, comes again
The welcome morning with its rays of peace.
Oblivion, softly wiping out the stain,
Makes the strong secret pangs of shame to cease.:
Remorse is virtue's root; its fair increase
Are fruits of innocence and blessedness:
Thus joy, o'erborne and bound, doth still release
His young limbs from the chains that round him press.
Weep not that the world changes -- did it keep
A stable changeless state, 'twere cause indeed to weep.
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