At twenty-five I cast my horoscope, <br /> And saw a future with all good things rife -- <br /> A firm assurance of eternal life <br />In worlds beyond, and in this world the hope <br />Of deathless fame. But now my sun doth slope <br /> To setting, and the toil of sordid strife, <br /> The care of food and raiment, child and wife, <br />Have dimmed and narrowed all my spirit's scope. <br /> <br />Eternal life -- a river gulphed in sands! <br /> Undying fame -- a rainbow lost in clouds! <br /> What hope of immortality remains <br />But this: "Some soul that loves and understands <br /> Shall save thee from the darkness that enshrouds"; <br /> And this: "Thy blood shall course in others' veins"?<br /><br />John Liddell Kelly<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/immortality-5/
