And what is life to him whose days are passed
In dire affliction, cursed among his kind,
In youth infirm, in manhood's glory blind,
Spring's promise blighted by cold winter's blast?
In dire affliction, cursed among his kind,
In youth infirm, in manhood's glory blind,
Spring's promise blighted by cold winter's blast?
And after all, though Fortune's favorite
Long life and happiness and wealth may gain,
In every heart there is a secret pain,
Each life must have its bitter and its sweet.
Long life and happiness and wealth may gain,
In every heart there is a secret pain,
Each life must have its bitter and its sweet.
And when the future generations look
Back to a past that is our present now;
The aching heart and anxious, troubled brow
Will never mar a page of Memory's book.
Back to a past that is our present now;
The aching heart and anxious, troubled brow
Will never mar a page of Memory's book.
The troubled, tossing torrent and the tide
Deep and unbroken in its even flow;
Amid the depths of ocean, who shall know
Where brooks are lost and mightiest rivers hide?
Deep and unbroken in its even flow;
Amid the depths of ocean, who shall know
Where brooks are lost and mightiest rivers hide?
What value hath the gem's resplendent ray
More than the common pebble on the beach,
When both are borne beyond our mortal reach
By waves, that none may dare command to stay?
More than the common pebble on the beach,
When both are borne beyond our mortal reach
By waves, that none may dare command to stay?
The happiest and most wretched of mankind
Hath naught to boast of, nothing to deplore;
When they who were are counted as no more,
The years roll on and all are left behind.
Hath naught to boast of, nothing to deplore;
When they who were are counted as no more,
The years roll on and all are left behind.
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