Anna Laetitia Barbauld(1743–1825)
Life (Anna Laetitia Barbauld)
Animula, vagula,blandula.4
Life! I know not what thou art,
But know that thou and I must part;
And when, or how, or where we met,
I own to me's a secret yet.acknowledge
But this I know, when thou art fled,
Where'er they lay these limbs, this head,
No clod so valueless shall be,
As all that then remains of me.
O whither, whither dost thou fly,
Where bend unseen thy trackless course,
And in this strange divorce,
Ah tell where I must seek this compound I
To the vast ocean of empyreal 0 flame,celestial
From whence thy essence came,
Dost thou thy flight pursue, when freed
From matter's base encumbering weed
Or dost thou, hid from sight,
Wait, like some spell-bound knight,
Through blank oblivious years th' appointed hour,
To break thy trance and reassume thy power
Yet canst thou without thought or feeling be
O say what art thou, when no more thou rt thee
Life! we've been long together,
Through pleasant and through cloudy weather;
'Tis hard to part when friends are dear;
Perhaps't will cost a sigh, a tear;
Then steal away, give little warning,
Choose thine own time;
Say not Good night, but in some brighter clime
Bid me Good morning.