WHAT'S love, when the most is said? The flash of the lightning fleet, Then, darkness that shrouds the soul, -- but the earth is firm to my feet; The rocks and the tides endure, the grasses and herbs return, The path to my foot is sure, and the sods to my bosom yearn. What's fame, when the truth is told? A shout to a distant hill, The craigs may echo a while, but fainter, and fainter still; Yet forever the wind blows wide the sweetness of all the skies, The rain cries and the snow flies, and the storm in its bosom lies. What's life, what's life, little heart? A dream when the nights are long, Toil in the waking days, -- tears, and a kiss, a song. What's life, what's life, little heart? To beat and be glad of breath While death waits on either side, -- before and behind us, Death! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WE HAVE GONE THROUGH GREAT ROOMS TOGETHER by CARL SANDBURG NEEDLE THREADER IN NEED OF A NEEDLE by DARA WIER LOUISA MAY ALCOTT by LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON CRADLE SONG (TO A TUNE OF BLAKE'S): 2 by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE THE CASTLE OF INDOLENCE: CANTO 1 by JAMES THOMSON (1700-1748) |