Why are we here? For what do we strive
In this world of sin and sorrow?
We work to-day; oh, ever to-day;
With never a sign of the morrow!
Like comrades all, we seek some end,
Aim at some golden star,
But To-morrow, like a blackening cloud,
Trembles still afar.
Did we but know -- oh, could we guess --
The secrets she doth hold --
All that big sea above our heads,
The mysteries of old.
Life and Death, and even men
Were merely nothing then.
Ah! What is Death, or what is Life?
In all this din of strife
Do we strive for nought,
Do we die for nought,
And is it all a dream?
This joy we feel, this hourly bliss,
These lips we love to kiss --
Why do they go?
Where do they go?
Oh, is it all a dream?
Ah, voice in the sea! Oh, soul in the wind!
Is it all one noble mind?
This spirit in man,
This God in man.
Oh, say is it all a dream?
First published in The Australian Town and Country Journal, 15 September 1909
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Old Qld Poetry
See also.
In this world of sin and sorrow?
We work to-day; oh, ever to-day;
With never a sign of the morrow!
Like comrades all, we seek some end,
Aim at some golden star,
But To-morrow, like a blackening cloud,
Trembles still afar.
Did we but know -- oh, could we guess --
The secrets she doth hold --
All that big sea above our heads,
The mysteries of old.
Life and Death, and even men
Were merely nothing then.
Ah! What is Death, or what is Life?
In all this din of strife
Do we strive for nought,
Do we die for nought,
And is it all a dream?
This joy we feel, this hourly bliss,
These lips we love to kiss --
Why do they go?
Where do they go?
Oh, is it all a dream?
Ah, voice in the sea! Oh, soul in the wind!
Is it all one noble mind?
This spirit in man,
This God in man.
Oh, say is it all a dream?
First published in The Australian Town and Country Journal, 15 September 1909
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Old Qld Poetry
See also.
