AH! what is life! a dream within a dream; A pilgrimage from peril rarely free; A bark that sails upon a changing sea, Now sunshine and now storm; a mountain stream, Heard, but scarce seen ere to the dark deep gone; A wild star blazing with unsteady beam, Yet for a season fair to look upon. Life is an infant on affection's knee, A youth now full of hope and transient glee, In manhood's peerless noon now bright, anon, A time-worn ruin silver'd o'er with years. Life is a race where slippery steeps arise, Where discontent and sorrow are the prize, And when the goal is won the grave appears. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE EARTH-CHILD IN THE GRASS by KATHERINE MANSFIELD THEN AND NOW by CECIL DAY LEWIS ARMAGEDDON by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON FAITH by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE SEALS IN PENOBSCOT BAY by KAREN SWENSON |