 | The complete poetical works of Oliver Wendell Holmes
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But whence and why, our trembling souls inquire,
Caught these dim visions their awakening fire?
Oh, who forgets when first the piercing thought
Through childhood's musings found its way unsought?
I am;—I live. The mystery and the fear
When the dread question, What has brought me here?
Burst through life's twilight, as before the sun
Roll the deep thunders of the morning gun!
Are angel faces, silent and serene,
Bent on the conflicts of this little scene,
Whose dream-like efforts, whose unreal strife,
Are but the preludes to a larger life?
| The complete poetical works of Oliver Wendell Holmes
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