THE RIDDLE OF LIFE
Oh, what a weak, sporadic thing is man,Burst forth upon life’s troublous sea!Unasked he comes, unwished therefrom he goes,—Oh, whither is his destiny?I put my riddle to the flying breezeThat flurried past with airy wing;My words were borne back on the fleecy cloudsWho laughed to scorn my questioning.I asked it of the lordful mountain peakWho lays his hoar face to the sky;He only shrugged his Atlan shoulders bare,And answered me a mournful sigh.I plied it to the deep and surging seaWhere myriads slept in her watery grave;She roared and spumed, and splashed her surges higher,And answer none to me she gave.Then to the heavens with upturned face I gazed,And reverent asked my God in prayer;A still, small voice breathed back to me in love,“Wait, child; thou shalt know better there.”
Oh, what a weak, sporadic thing is man,Burst forth upon life’s troublous sea!Unasked he comes, unwished therefrom he goes,—Oh, whither is his destiny?I put my riddle to the flying breezeThat flurried past with airy wing;My words were borne back on the fleecy cloudsWho laughed to scorn my questioning.I asked it of the lordful mountain peakWho lays his hoar face to the sky;He only shrugged his Atlan shoulders bare,And answered me a mournful sigh.I plied it to the deep and surging seaWhere myriads slept in her watery grave;She roared and spumed, and splashed her surges higher,And answer none to me she gave.Then to the heavens with upturned face I gazed,And reverent asked my God in prayer;A still, small voice breathed back to me in love,“Wait, child; thou shalt know better there.”
Oh, what a weak, sporadic thing is man,Burst forth upon life’s troublous sea!Unasked he comes, unwished therefrom he goes,—Oh, whither is his destiny?
Oh, what a weak, sporadic thing is man,
Burst forth upon life’s troublous sea!
Unasked he comes, unwished therefrom he goes,—
Oh, whither is his destiny?
I put my riddle to the flying breezeThat flurried past with airy wing;My words were borne back on the fleecy cloudsWho laughed to scorn my questioning.
I put my riddle to the flying breeze
That flurried past with airy wing;
My words were borne back on the fleecy clouds
Who laughed to scorn my questioning.
I asked it of the lordful mountain peakWho lays his hoar face to the sky;He only shrugged his Atlan shoulders bare,And answered me a mournful sigh.
I asked it of the lordful mountain peak
Who lays his hoar face to the sky;
He only shrugged his Atlan shoulders bare,
And answered me a mournful sigh.
I plied it to the deep and surging seaWhere myriads slept in her watery grave;She roared and spumed, and splashed her surges higher,And answer none to me she gave.
I plied it to the deep and surging sea
Where myriads slept in her watery grave;
She roared and spumed, and splashed her surges higher,
And answer none to me she gave.
Then to the heavens with upturned face I gazed,And reverent asked my God in prayer;A still, small voice breathed back to me in love,“Wait, child; thou shalt know better there.”
Then to the heavens with upturned face I gazed,
And reverent asked my God in prayer;
A still, small voice breathed back to me in love,
“Wait, child; thou shalt know better there.”