UNCERTAINTY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2403, 22 March 1900, Page 58

UNCERTAINTY.

Around the path, through life, we tread! Although a smiling Foitune may Its very choicest roses shed,

With an unstinted hand to-day,

To-morrow's sun may scarcely dawn,

Ere we awake, alas! to find The roses all are dead and gone,

Yet left their bitter thorns behind.

Though laughter beams hi Beauty's eyes,

And all is gay and fair to-night, To-morrow's sun may never rise

Upon those glorious orbs of sight. And cheeks that now with pleasure glow,

Unstained by tears, unmarked by care, To-morrow may be blanched with woe,

And scalding tears may trickle there.

To-day there's not one fleecy cloud

To dim the sky's wide arch of blue, And yet the morrow may enshroud

It o'er in clouds of sable hue.

That little babe, with angel face,

To-day so full of life and glee, May get a call to take its place

To-morrow in Eternity,

O how uncertain is the fate

That c'en to-niorrow's sun may bring 1 Alike to all things, mean and great — The humble peasant and the king.

How fleeting is the happiness Of all who breathe this mortal breath! The only certainty is this :

That all must taste the cup of death.

Jfftwn from the cradle to the grave,

Of every station and degree, Han is at best but Fortune's slave,

A creature of uncertainty,

O man ! self-deifying man ! Thou sport of Passion's every gust, Thy life is but a closing span, And thou art but ephemeral dust. Then why be \e puffed up and proud, And vaunt it o'er your fellow clay? Dream on, dream cn — the pall and shroucT Are woven for your funeral day. Dream on, dream on! — the night birds scream

A dread ill omen in your ear: Ye little ten that while ye dream

The morn of death is drawing near.

Dream on — without one thought of woe:

The night of life is fleeting fast: 'Tis finished! See, all flesh, must go" To be the maggots' food at last I

— HENEY T. FLETCHER, '