You promise heavens free from strife, 
Pure truth, and perfect change of will; 
But sweet, sweet is this human life, 
So sweet, I fain would breathe it still; 
Your chilly stars I can forgo,
This warm kind world is all I know. 

You say there is no substance here, 
One great reality above: 
Back from that void I shrink in fear, 
And child-like hide myself in love: 
Show me what angels feel. Till then 
I cling, a mere weak man, to men. 

You bid me lift my mean desires 
From faltering lips and fitful veins 
To sexless souls, ideal quires, 
Unwearied voices, wordless strains: 
My mind with fonder welcome owns 
One dear dead friend's remember'd tones. 

Forsooth the present we must give 
To that which cannot pass away; 
All beauteous things for which we live 
By laws of time and space decay. 
But O, the very reason why 
I clasp them, is because they die.