| Matthew Arnold (1822–88). The Poems of Matthew Arnold, 1840–1867. 1909. | | | | The Strayed Reveller, and Other Poems | | To Fausta |
| | [First published 1849.]
JOY comes and goes: hope ebbs and flows, | |
| Like the wave. | |
| Change doth unknit the tranquil strength of men. | |
| Love lends life a little grace, | |
| A few sad smiles: and then, | 5 |
| Both are laid in cold place, | |
| In the grave. | |
| |
| Dreams dawn and fly: friends smile and die, | |
| Like spring flowers. | |
| Our vaunted life is one long funeral. | 10 |
| Men dig graves, with bitter tears, | |
| For their dead hopes; and all, | |
| Maz’d with doubts, and sick with fears, | |
| Count the hours. | |
| |
| We count the hours: these dreams of ours, | 15 |
| False and hollow, | |
| Shall we go hence and find they are not dead? | |
| Joys we dimly apprehend, | |
| Faces that smil’d and fled, | |
| Hopes born here, and born to end, | 20 |
| Shall we follow? | | | | |
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