How change our days! not oftener doth its hue The lank chameleon change, than we our joys; The bliss that feeds upon the heart destroys; Little is done, while much remains to do: We fix our eyes on phantoms and pursue; We chase the airy bubbles of the brain; We leave, for Fancy's lures, the fix'd and true; Destroy what time hath spared, yet build again: Years o'er us pass, and age, that comes to few, Comes but to tell them they have lived in vain; Sin blights—Death scatters—Hope misleads—Thought errs— Joy's icicles melt down before Time's sun— And, ere the ebbing sands of life be run, Another generation earth prefers! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE EMULATION by SARAH FYGE EGERTON HYSTERIA by THOMAS STEARNS ELIOT IN TENEBRIS: 2 by THOMAS HARDY MONNA INNOMINATA, A SONNET OF SONNETS: 8 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI KNOWLEDGE by HENRY DAVID THOREAU LONDON, 1802 (2) by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH OLD HOUSE by MARGARET PERKINS BRIGGS |