Classic Poem

'Tis only for a little while,
This life, a mingled sob and smile;
The heart that throbs so warm today
Tomorrow ebbs its life away.
A moment hums life's busy loom,
Then hushed and silent in the tomb;
And wields the sceptre, sob or smile,
For such a little, little while.

Youth rears in hope a castled pile
To rise for such a little while;
Fate lays in dust its tow'ring walls,
Ambitious spires and gilded halls;
Pride's swelling crest, now plumèd high,
Now stricken low, prays God to die;
Time leads the saddened heart to smile
In such a little, little while.

Life's little candle feebly glows,
Life's little current quickly flows,
A moment heaves the troubled breath,
The candle finds its socket, Death.
The flushing cheek, the radiant eye,
Dim, lustreless, and cold shall lie,
And yet those pallid lips shall smile
With God in such a little while.