Classic Poem

Here we are, friends, whole and hale
In or through the comet's tail;
And as far as we can say,
Matters are about as they
Were before.

Everything is much the same
As before the comet came.
Grasses grow and waters run—
Nothing new beneath the sun—
Same old sphere.

Life is drab or life is gay,
Thorny path or primrose way;
All is common, all is strange;
“Down the ringing grooves of change”
Spins the world.

Change but of a humdrum kind.
What we vaguely had in mind
Was some new sensation or
Thrill we never felt before.
Vain desire!

Nothing's added to the stock:
Same old shiver, same old shock.
Round about the sun we'll go
In the same old status quo.