Life

Barry Cornwall 1787 (Leeds, Yorkshire) – 1874 (London)



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?
 Alas, not I!  
 
Why doth the violet spring  
 Unseen by human eye?  
Why do the radiant seasons bring  
 Sweet thoughts that quickly fly?
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,
 Stone-dead we lie.  
O life! is all thy song  
 “Endure and—die”?

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

28 sec read
147

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABAB CBCBCB DBDBDB
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 513
Words 95
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6

Barry Cornwall

Bryan Waller Procter (pseud. Barry Cornwall) was an English poet who served as a Commissioner in Lunacy. more…

All Barry Cornwall poems | Barry Cornwall Books

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