"Did I exist before my birth? It is absurd to think it so. Shall I exist, then, when the earth Reclaims me? No! "The infinite and paradise Are only myths. I have the choice To suffer and to sacrifice, Or to rejoice. "To eat or to be eaten seems The rule. As long as life shall last I choose to eat. There'll be no dreams When it is past. "A little clay, I'll line a brook Perhaps, or lie beneath some cobble." Thus speaks the Count in Hugo's book, "Les Miserables." Although the future, I confess, Remains a total mystery, I do not think that nothingness Was meant for me. I do not think spontaneous force Directs the world; that it was wrought By chance. Nor do I think my source Was merely naught. But if I did from nothing come, It matters not; for, all the same, When time struck up its pendulum For me -- I came. And when it calls, and I once more Return to nothing, surely, then, The very thing I did before I'll do again. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE WORN WEDDING-RING by WILLIAM COX BENNETT HIRAM POWERS' GREEK SLAVE by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING WAR IS KIND: 1 by STEPHEN CRANE HYMN OF TRUST by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES SPRING by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS |