European Elegies/Winter/Life
44.LIFE
Life is a moment's maze,Life is an anguisht cry,Life is a shifting haze,A shadow that flutters by;Life is a fugitive dreamThat melts like snow in a streamOr like mists in the morning sun;Life is surpassing briefAnd tenuous past belief,For life is a falling leafThat the winter winds have won .
Life is a flower by a stream,Life is a breath quick-drawn,Life is a comet's gleam,Life is a lark at dawn,A cloud by the wild wind tost,A wave on the wild sea lostIn the pathless ocean's spume;Life is a bird's frail featherWing-torn by tempest weatherAnd drawn to dark gulfs netherOn the plangent winds of doom .
From the Portuguese of João de Deus Ramos.