| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| Life |
| | | Barry Cornwall (1787–1874) |
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| WE are born; we laugh; we weep; | |
| We love; we droop; we die! | |
| Ah! wherefore do we laugh or weep? | |
| Why do we live, or die? | |
| Who knows that secret deep? | 5 |
| Alas, not I! | |
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| Why doth the violet spring | |
| Unseen by human eye? | |
| Why do the radiant seasons bring | |
| Sweet thoughts that quickly fly? | 10 |
| Why do our fond hearts cling | |
| To things that die? | |
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| We toil,—through pain and wrong; | |
| We fight,—and fly; | |
| We love; we lose; and then, ere long, | 15 |
| Stone-dead we lie. | |
| O life! is all thy song | |
| “Endure and—die”? | |
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