For works with similar titles, see Life.
Jaroslav Vrchlický3724793The Soul Of A Century — Life1943Roderick Aldrich Ginsburg

LIFE

Though your life be straight or turning,
Be it peaceful, be it stirred,
Little tears and much of yearning,
Always fulfillment deferred.
Though it drag or rush unchanneled,
Be a rose or a barren glade,
You will always be impaneled
’Twixt a double pointed blade.
When your blood stream stains the saber
And your weeping stirs the night
Man and even God will waver
To assist you in your plight.
You must suffer in lifers maelstrom,
Though you win, or yield to fear,
Til you’ve touched Life’s very bottom—
You know not . . . that Death is near.

 This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.

Original:

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse

Translation:

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was legally published within the United States (or the United Nations Headquarters in New York subject to Section 7 of the United States Headquarters Agreement) between 1929 and 1977 (inclusive) without a copyright notice.


The longest-living author of this work died in 1987, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 36 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse