Classic Poem

Cult, credo, social orders that pertain
To human progress, polity, and laws;
Science, philosophy; effect and cause
Of war and wealth or poverty and pain;
Rise and decline of empire; loss and gain
O' th' whole world; ancient and modern saws
Of wisdom: these but eddyings and flaws
In the full tide of Time which moves amain
Its fateful course; and what is man? A leaf
On Igdrasil, that for a season stirs
With kindred rustling multitudes, then whirs
Into oblivion: — such our mortal fief!
How void of worth your proud Opinion, sirs,
Or mine, our term of fluttering so brief.