| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | Life and Death (II.) | | By Christopher Pearse Cranch (1813–1892) |
| | | OR endless sleep ’t will be,—and that is rest, | |
| Freedom forever from life’s weary cares,— | |
| Or else a life beyond the climbing stairs | |
| And dizzy pinnacles of thought expressed | |
| In symbols such as in our mortal breast | 5 |
| Are framed by time and space;—life that upbears | |
| The soul by a law untried amid these snares | |
| Of sense that make it a too willing guest. | |
| So sleep or waking were a boon divine. | |
| Yet why this inextinguishable thirst, | 10 |
| This hope, this faith that to existence cling? | |
| Nay e’en the poor dark chrysalis some fine | |
| Ethereal creature prisons, till it burst | |
| Into the unknown air on golden wing. | | | | |
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