| Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (18591919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903. | | | | A Vain Shadow | | By Christina Georgina Rossetti (18301894) |
| | | THE WORLD,what a world, ah me! | |
| Mouldy, worm-eaten, gray; | |
| Vain as a leaf from a tree, | |
| As a fading day, | |
| As veriest vanity, | 5 |
| As the froth and the spray | |
| Of the hollow-billowed sea, | |
| As what was and shall not be, | |
| As what is and passes away. | | | | |
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