Algernon Charles Swinburne

To say of shame - what is it? Of virtue - we can miss it; Of sin-we can kiss it, And it's no longer sin. ”

Time turns the old days to derision, Our loves into corpses or wives; And marriage and death and division Make barren our lives. ”

From too much love of living, From hope and fear set free, We thank with brief thanksgiving Whatever gods may be That no life lives for ever; That dead men rise up never; That even the weariest river Winds somewhere safe to sea. ”