Life

"What is this world?­thy school,

O misery!"Our only lesson is to learn to suffer." -

NG.

VE, thou sportive fickle boy,

Source of anguish, child of joy,

Ever wounding­ever smiling,

Soothing still, and still beguiling;

What are all thy boasted treasures,

Tender sorrows, transient pleasures?

Anxious hopes, and jealous fears,

NG

RS, and

NG

RS.  What is

IP'S soothing name?

But a shad'wy, vap'rish flame;

Fancy's balm for ev'ry wound,

Ever sought, but rarely found;

What is

TY ? but a flow'r,

Blooming, fading in an hour;

Deck'd with brightest tints at morn,

At twilight with'ring on a thorn;

Like the gentle Rose of spring,

Chill'd by ev'ry zephyr's wing,

Ah! how soon its colour flies,

Blushes, trembles, falls, and dies.  What is

TH ? a smiling sorrow,

Blithe to day, and sad to-morrow;

Never fix'd, for ever ranging,

Laughing, weeping, doating, changing;

Wild, capricious, giddy, vain,

Cloy'd with pleasure, nurs'd with pain;

GE steals on with wint'ry face,

Ev'ry rapt'rous Hope to chase;

Like a wither'd, sapless tree,

Bow'd to chilling Fate's decree;

Strip'd of all its foliage gay,

Drooping at the close of day;

What of tedious Life remains?

Keen regrets and cureless pains;

Till

TH appears, a welcome friend,

To bid the scene of sorrow end.