Occasional verse, moral and sacred Published for the instruction and amusement of the Candidly Serious and Religious [by Edward Perronet] |
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WHAT IS LIFE?
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 | Occasional verse, moral and sacred |  |
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WHAT IS LIFE?
AN EPIGRAM.
A moment's length, a length of annual pains,A list of griefs, infirmities, and sins:
A scene of madness, nonsense, and distress,
Where wisdom dodders, and where wanders peace;
The sage's blunder, and the fool's amaze,
Where men turn brutes, and where immortals graze.
Sacred to sense, their downward palates ply,
Their souls terrene, disown their native sky;
Like beasts they riot, till like beasts they die.
Thus born who live, a blind, ignoble race,
Shall quit the stage, swift plunging to their place;
Their nature's scandal, and their own disgrace.
Perish'd from earth, their memory shall rot,
Reproach their laurels, or their name forgot:
Such their reward, whom wanton fools commend,
Their life, their crime, and wretchedness their end.
| Occasional verse, moral and sacred | |