[Poems by Hovey in] Last songs from Vagabondia :: :: University of Virginia Library

QUATRAINS

I

Life as it is! Accept it; it is thine!
The God that gave it, gave it for thy good.
The God that made it had not been divine
Could he have set thee poison for thy food.

II

Abstain not; Life and Love, like night and day,
Offer themselves to us on their own terms,
—Not ours. Accept their bounty while ye may,
Before we be accepted by the worms.

III

We rail at Time and Chance, and break our hearts
To make the glory of to-day endure.
Is the sun dead because the day departs?
And are the suns of Life and Love less sure?

IV

Fear not the menace of the bye-and-bye.
To-day is ours; to-morrow Fate must give.
Stretch out your hands and eat, although ye die!
Better to die than never once to live.