Later Poems of Alexander Anderson "Surfaceman": Edited with a Biographical Sketch, by Alexander Brown: A New Edition |
 |
EVANESCENCE. |
 | Later Poems of Alexander Anderson |  |
EVANESCENCE.
We are but shadows, and we pass
Like sunshine on the waving grass;
Like sunshine on the waving grass;
Shadows that live a little time,
As summer lives and breathes her prime.
As summer lives and breathes her prime.
We go; but she—she never grieves,
But forms her birth of infant leaves
But forms her birth of infant leaves
For the next season, and they blow
Full, as a thousand years ago
Full, as a thousand years ago
They grew, and spread to winds unseen
Their paradise of dewy green.
Their paradise of dewy green.
So be it. In their high estate
The gods that rule our human fate
The gods that rule our human fate
Have fixed it; and their high stern doom
Is, that our race must have a tomb.
Is, that our race must have a tomb.
186
Ah, who so bold of heart can say
The high gods shall not have their sway.
The high gods shall not have their sway.
We fight in vain; our paltry life
Sinks like a bubble in the strife.
Sinks like a bubble in the strife.
But all the seasons still renew
The colour which they hold their due.
The colour which they hold their due.
But man. He only lives to pass
Like floating shadows on the grass.
Like floating shadows on the grass.
| Later Poems of Alexander Anderson | |