THE UNATTAINED

by: Elizabeth Oakes-Smith (1806-1893)

      ND is this life? and are we born for this?
      To follow phantoms that elude the grasp,
      Or whatso'er's secured, within our clasp,
      To withering lie, as if each mortal kiss
      Were doomed death's shuddering touch alone to meet.
      O Life! has thou reserved no cup of bliss?
      Must still THE UNATTAINED beguile our feet?
      The UNATTAINED with yearnings fill the breast,
      That rob, for aye, the spirit of its rest?
      Yes, this is Life; and everywhere we meet,
      Not victor crowns, but wailings of defeat;
      Yet faint thou not, thou dost apply a test,
      That shall incite thee onward, upward still,
      The present cannot sate, nor e'er thy spirit fill.

"The Unattained" is reprinted from The Sinless Child and Other Poems. Elizabeth Oakes Smith. New York: Wiley & Putnam, 1843.

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