Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
De Profundis
By Henry Charles Lea (18251909)W
We toil, through want and care;
Worn out, at last we die,
And go, we know not where.
Unknowing what we do:
We gain, to find us tricked;
We lose, to idly rue.
At something higher, better,
The flesh asserts its claims,
And will not loose its fetter.
Can aid our impotence:
The highest goal they seek
Is dumb indifference.
But palliates the ill:
All man can do for man
Leaves Earth in misery still.
Who guess the reason why?
We know but this, indeed,
We are born, we grieve, we die!