| |
| ONCE, in the flight of ages past, | |
| There lived a man:—and WHO WAS HE?— | |
| Mortal! howe’er thy lot be cast, | |
| That man resembled thee. | |
| |
| Unknown the region of his birth, | 5 |
| The land in which he died unknown: | |
| His name hath perished from the earth; | |
| This truth survives alone:— | |
| |
| That joy and grief, and hope and fear, | |
| Alternate triumph’d in his breast; | 10 |
| His bliss and woe,—a smile, a tear!— | |
| Oblivion hides the rest. | |
| |
| The bounding pulse, the languid limb, | |
| The changing spirits’ rise and fall; | |
| We know that these were felt by him, | 15 |
| For these are felt by all. | |
| |
| He suffer’d,—but his pangs are o’er; | |
| Enjoy’d,—but his delights are fled; | |
| Had friends—his friends are now no more; | |
| And foes,—his foes are dead. | 20 |
| |
| He loved,—but whom he loved, the grave | |
| Hath lost in its unconscious womb: | |
| O, she was fair!—but nought could save | |
| Her beauty from the tomb. | |
| |
| He saw whatever thou hast seen; | 25 |
| Encounter’d all that troubles thee: | |
| He was—whatever thou hast been; | |
| He is—what thou shalt be. | |
| |
| The rolling seasons, day and night, | |
| Sun, moon, and stars, the earth and main, | 30 |
| Erewhile his portion, life, and light, | |
| To him exist in vain. | |
| |
| The clouds and sunbeams, o’er his eye | |
| That once their shades and glory threw, | |
| Have left in yonder silent sky | 35 |
| No vestige where they flew. | |
| |
| The annals of the human race, | |
| Their ruins, since the world began, | |
| OF HIM afford no other trace | |
| Than this, THERE LIVED A MAN! | 40 |
| |
