A MAN lived fifty years joy dashed with tears; Loved, toiled; had wife and child, and lost them; died; And left of all his long life's work one little song. That lasted nought beside. Like the Monk Felix' bird, that song was heard; Doubt prayed, Faith soared, Death smiled itself to sleep; That song saved souls. You say The man paid stiffly? Nay. God paid and thought it cheap. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FALL OF RICHMOND [APRIL, 1865] by HERMAN MELVILLE SONNET TO MASTER GABRIELL HARVEY, DOCTOR OF LAWES by EDMUND SPENSER UPON A SPIDER CATCHING A FLY by EDWARD TAYLOR PLORATA VERIS LACHRYMIS by WILLIAM BARNES HYMN FOR THE ANNIVERSARY OF HARTFORD AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD |