For works with similar titles, see Recompense.
RECOMPENSE
AND what, indeed, if this be all,
This little span of earthly years
With fleeting hopes and transient tears,
With froth of fame and dregs of fears?
What if I have no deathless soul,
But with the ceasing of life's stress
(In spite of priestly lips that bless)
I sink down into nothingness,
Beyond the coffin and the somber pall
To hear and answer no immortal call?
This little span of earthly years
With fleeting hopes and transient tears,
With froth of fame and dregs of fears?
What if I have no deathless soul,
But with the ceasing of life's stress
(In spite of priestly lips that bless)
I sink down into nothingness,
Beyond the coffin and the somber pall
To hear and answer no immortal call?
Could I complain if this should be?
Nay, still I'd owe no grudge to fate,
No bitter grievance could I prate—
For joys of earth would compensate!
For what if I had never known
The surge of life, its thrill divine,
The strength of strife, hope's star-white sign,
The bitter-sweet of love's red wine?
Ah, what if, through some trick of destiny,
I'd missed this wondrous sweet mortality!
Nay, still I'd owe no grudge to fate,
No bitter grievance could I prate—
For joys of earth would compensate!
For what if I had never known
The surge of life, its thrill divine,
The strength of strife, hope's star-white sign,
The bitter-sweet of love's red wine?
Ah, what if, through some trick of destiny,
I'd missed this wondrous sweet mortality!