WE are born; we laugh; we weep; <br /> We love; we droop; we die! <br />Ah! wherefore do we laugh or weep? <br /> Why do we live, or die? <br />Who knows that secret deep? <br /> Alas, not I! <br /> <br />Why doth the violet spring <br /> Unseen by human eye? <br />Why do the radiant seasons bring <br /> Sweet thoughts that quickly fly? <br />Why do our fond hearts cling <br /> To things that die? <br /> <br />We toil,—through pain and wrong; <br /> We fight,—and fly; <br />We love; we lose; and then, ere long, <br /> Stone-dead we lie. <br />O life! is all thy song <br /> “Endure and—die”?<br /><br />Barry Cornwall<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/life-26/
