Hurrying for ever in their restless flight <br />The generations of earth's teeming womb <br />Rise into being and lapse into the tomb <br />Like transient bubbles sparkling in the light; <br />They sink in quick succession out of sight <br />Into the thick insuperable gloom <br />Our futile lives in flashing by illume-- <br />Lightning which mocks the darkness of the night. <br /> <br />Nay--but consider, though we change and die, <br />If men must pass shall Man not still remain? <br />As the unnumbered drops of summer rain <br />Whose changing particles unchanged on high, <br />Fixed, in perpetual motion, yet maintain <br />The mystic bow emblazoned on the sky.<br /><br />Mathilde Blind<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-symbol-2/