TWILIGHT LIFE
I live a twilight life—not dark, but yet
Enjoying but a dim uncertain light;
Not glad nor sad, no victim of regret,
But ever not so near to day as night:
Pleasure's intoxication now no more
Can fill me with its rapture—for I know
Earthward we fall at last though high we soar,
And time shall soon all gladness overthrow:
Yet now I feel not sorrow's bitterness
Crashing me down as once with leaden weight,
For that same fate that makes our pleasures less,
The pressure too of misery doth abate:
So now I rest content, whate'er befall,
To live or die—"the readiness is all."
Enjoying but a dim uncertain light;
Not glad nor sad, no victim of regret,
But ever not so near to day as night:
Pleasure's intoxication now no more
Can fill me with its rapture—for I know
Earthward we fall at last though high we soar,
And time shall soon all gladness overthrow:
Yet now I feel not sorrow's bitterness
Crashing me down as once with leaden weight,
For that same fate that makes our pleasures less,
The pressure too of misery doth abate:
So now I rest content, whate'er befall,
To live or die—"the readiness is all."