To spring, to bloom, to fade, -- This is the sum of the laborious years; Life preludes death as laughter ends in tears: All things that God has made Suffer perpetual change, and may not long endure. We alter day by day; Each little moment, as life's current rolls, Stamps some faint impress on our yielding souls; We may not rest nor stay, Drifting on tides unseen to one dread goal and sure. Our being is compassed round With miracles; on this our life-long sleep, Strange whispers rise from the surrounding deep, Like that weird ocean sound Borne in still summer nights on weary watching ears. The selves we leave behind Affright us like the ghosts of friends long dead; The old love vanished in the present dread, They visit us to find New sorrows, alien hopes, strange pleasures, other fears. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPRING BLIZZARD by JAMES GALVIN TO SEE THE STARS IN DAYLIGHT by JAMES GALVIN IRELAND; WRITTEN FOR THE ART AUTOGRAPH DURING IRISH FAMINE by SIDNEY LANIER THE FEAST OF LIGHTS by EMMA LAZARUS AT NIGHT; SONNET by AMY LOWELL |