Questions and Answers

Questions and Answers

Oh! what is pleasure, in whose chase,
Life's one brief day is made a race

Of vanity and lightness?

A star to gaze on, whose bright crown,
We wait until the sun goes down,
And find when it has o'er us shone,

No warmth in all its brightness!

And what is Friendship? - that false flower,
Which spreads its leaves at daylight's hour,

And closes them at eve; -

Opening its petals to the light,
Sweet breathing, while the sun shines bright,
But shut to those, who midst the night, And what is Fame? - the smile that slays,
The cup in which sweet poison lays,

At best the flowery wreath; -

That's twined around the victim's head,

When midst sweet flowers, around it spread,

And harps and timbrel's sounds, 'tis led

Melodiously to death!

And what are hopes? - gay butterflies,

That on the breath of fancy rise,

Where e'er the sunbeam lures them;

For ever, ever, on the wing,
Mocking our faint steps following,
And if at last caught, - perishing,

In the grasp that secures them!

And our affections, what are they?
Oh! blossoms smiling on the spray,

All beauty and all sweetness; -

But which the canker, may lay bare,
Or rude hands from the branches tear,
Or blighting winds, lay withering there,

Sad types of mortal fleetness!

And what is life itself? - a sail,
With sometimes an auspicious gale,

And some bright sunbeams round it;

But oft'ner midst the tempests cast,
The low'ring sky, the howling blast,
And whelm'd beneath the wave at last,

Where never plummet sounded!

Unattributed

1:27, p. 108

1827.09.14