| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | V. The Unattained | | By Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes Smith (1806–1893) |
| | | AND is this life? and are we born for this?— | |
| To follow phantoms that elude the grasp, | |
| Or whatsoe’er secured, within our clasp | |
| To withering lie, as if each earthly kiss | |
| Were doomed death’s shuddering touch alone to meet. | 5 |
| O Life! hast thou reserved no cup of bliss? | |
| Must still THE UNATTAINED beguile our feet? | |
| THE UNATTAINED with yearnings fill the breast, | |
| That rob for aye the spirit of its rest? | |
| Yes, this is Life; and everywhere we meet, | 10 |
| Not victor crowns, but wailings of defeat; | |
| Yet faint thou not: thou dost apply a test, | |
| That shall incite thee onward, upward still: | |
| The present cannot sate, nor e’er thy spirit fill. | | | | |
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