History of a Life

DAY dawned: -- within a curtained room,

Filled to faintness with perfume,

A lady lay at point of doom.

Day closed; -- a child had seen the light;

But, for the lady fair and bright,

She rested in undreaming night.

Spring rose; the lady's grave was green;

And near it, oftentimes, was seen

A gentle boy with thoughtful mien.

Years fled; -- he wore a manly face,

And struggled in the world's rough race,

And won at last a lofty place.

And then he died! Behold before ye

Humanity's poor sum and story;

Life, -- Death, -- and all that is of glory.

Barry Cornwall (Bryan Waller Procter)

Index to poems in the collection by Barry Cornwall