PERSUASION

“Man's life is like a Sparrow,mighty King!

“That — while at banquet with your Chiefs you sit

“Housed near a blazing fire — is seen to flit

“Safe from the wintry tempest. Fluttering,

“Here did it enter; there, on hasty wing,

“Flies out, and passes on from cold to cold;

“But whence it came we know not, nor behold

“Whither it goes. Even such, that transient Thing,

“The human Soul; not utterly unknown

“While in the Body lodged, her warm abode;

“But from what world She came, what woe or weal

“On her departure waits, no tongue hath shown;

“This mystery if the Stranger can reveal,

“His be a welcome cordially bestowed!”