ANIMA ANCEPS
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ill death have brokenSweet life's love-token,Till all be spokenThat shall be said,What dost thou praying,O soul, and playingWith song and saying,Things flown and fled?For this we know not--That fresh springs flow notAnd fresh griefs grow notWhen men are dead;When strange years coverLover and lover,And joys are overAnd tears are shed. If one day's sorrowMar the day's morrow--If man's life borrowAnd man's death pay--If souls once taken,If lives once shaken,Arise, awaken,By night, by day--Why with strong cryingAnd years of sighing,Living and dying,Fast ye and pray?For all your weeping,Waking and sleeping,Death comes to reapingAnd takes away. Though time rend afterRoof-tree from rafter,A little laughterIs much more worthThan thus to measureThe hour, the treasure,The pain, the pleasure,The death, the birth;Grief, when days alter,Like joy shall falter;Song-book and psalter,Mourning and mirth.Live like the swallow;Seek not to followWhere earth is hollowUnder the earth.
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