Rise into being and lapse into the tomb

Like transient bubbles sparkling in the light;

They sink in quick succession out of sight

Into the thick insuperable gloom

Our futile lives in flashing by illume—

Lightning which mocks the darkness of the night.

Nay—but consider, though we change and die,

If men must pass shall Man not still remain?

As the unnumbered drops of summer rain

Whose changing particles unchanged on high,

Fixed, in perpetual motion, yet maintain

The mystic bow emblazoned on the sky.

[60]

Thy life, O Man, in this brief moment lies:

Time's narrow bridge whereon we darkling stand,

With an infinitude on either hand

Receding luminously from our eyes.

Lo, there thy Past's forsaken Paradise

Subsideth like some visionary strand,

While glimmering faint, the Future's promised land,

 Prev. P 52/155 next