Life

 "What is this world?­thy school, O misery!
"Our only lesson is to learn to suffer.
" 

- YOUNG.
 


LOVE, thou sportive fickle boy, 
Source of anguish, child of joy, 
Ever wounding­ever smiling, 
Soothing still, and still beguiling; 
What are all thy boasted treasures, 
Tender sorrows, transient pleasures? 
Anxious hopes, and jealous fears, 
LAUGHING HOURS, and MOURNING YEARS.
 

What is FRIENDSHIP'S soothing name?
But a shad'wy, vap'rish flame; 
Fancy's balm for ev'ry wound, 
Ever sought, but rarely found; 
What is BEAUTY ? but a flow'r, 
Blooming, fading in an hour; 
Deck'd with brightest tints at morn, 
At twilight with'ring on a thorn; 
Like the gentle Rose of spring, 
Chill'd by ev'ry zephyr's wing, 
Ah! how soon its colour flies, 
Blushes, trembles, falls, and dies.
 

What is YOUTH ? a smiling sorrow, 
Blithe to day, and sad to-morrow; 
Never fix'd, for ever ranging, 
Laughing, weeping, doating, changing; 
Wild, capricious, giddy, vain, 
Cloy'd with pleasure, nurs'd with pain; 
AGE steals on with wint'ry face, 
Ev'ry rapt'rous Hope to chase; 
Like a wither'd, sapless tree, 
Bow'd to chilling Fate's decree; 
Strip'd of all its foliage gay, 
Drooping at the close of day; 
What of tedious Life remains? 
Keen regrets and cureless pains; 
Till DEATH appears, a welcome friend, 
To bid the scene of sorrow end.

Biography | Poems | Best Poems | Short Poems | Quotes | Email Poem |

Poems are below...