Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume III. Sorrow and Consolation. 1904. | | | | V. Death and Bereavement | | Life | | Bryan Waller Procter (Barry Cornwall) (1787–1874) |
| | | WE are born; we laugh; we weep; | |
| We love; we droop; we die! | |
| Ah! wherefore do we laugh or weep? | |
| Why do we live or die? | |
| Who knows that secret deep? | 5 |
| Alas not I! | |
| |
| Why doth the violet spring | |
| Unseen by human eye? | |
| Why do the radiant seasons bring | |
| Sweet thoughts that quickly fly? | 10 |
| Why do our fond hearts cling | |
| To things that die? | |
| |
| We toil—through pain and wrong; | |
| We fight—and fly; | |
| We love; we lose; and then, ere long, | 15 |
| Stone-dead we lie, | |
| O life! is all thy song | |
| “Endure and—die?” | | | | |
|
|
