THE ONE CERTAINTY
by: Christina Rossetti
(1830-1894)
- ANITY of vanities, the Preacher
saith,
- All things are vanity. The eye and ear
- Cannot be filled with what they see and hear.
- Like early dew, or like the sudden breath
- Of wind, or like the grass that withereth,
- Is man, tossed to and fro by hope and fear:
- So little joy hath he, so little cheer,
- Till all things end in the long dust of death.
- To-day is still the same as yesterday,
- To-morrow also even as one of them;
- And there is nothing new under the sun:
- Until the ancient race of Time be run,
- The old thorns shall grow out of the old stem,
- And morning shall be cold and twilight grey.
"The One Certainty" is
reprinted from Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress and Other
Poems. Christina Rosetti. London: Macmillan 1879. |
MORE POEMS BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI |
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