Poetry.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2465, 28 April 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

Poetry.

THE COMMON LOT. Once in the flight of agea pas*, There lived a man—and who was ho ? Mortal, howe'er thy lot be cast, That man resembled thee. "Unknown the region of hid birth, The land in which he died, unknown ; His name has perished from the earth. This truth survives alone — That joy and (?rief, and hope and fear, Alternate triumphed in his breast, That bliss and woe, and, a smile, a tear ! Oblivion hides the rest. The bounding pulse, the languid limb, The changing spirit's rise and fall, We know thivt these were felt by him, For these are felt by all. He suffered—but his pangs are o'er; Enjoyed —but his delights are fled ; Had friends —his triends are now no more, And foes—his foes are dead. He loved —but whom ho loved the grave Hath lost its unconscious womb ; Oh, she was fair ! but nought could save Her beauty from the tomb. The rolling seasons, day and night, Sun, moon, and stars, the earth and main, Erewhile his portion, life and light, To him exists in vain. Hβ gaw whatever thou hast seen, Eucouiitered all that troubles thoe, Ho was, whatever thou hast been, He is what thou shalt bo. The clouds and sunbeams o'er his eye, That once their shade and glory threw. Have left in yonder silent sky No vestige where they flew, The annals of the human race, Their ruin since the world began Of him atford no other trace Than this— thkub livkd a mas. Jambs Montoomkry.