On Death

by John Keats · (no date)
Published 01/07/1880

Can death be sleep, when life is but a dream,

      And scenes of bliss pass as a phantom by?

The transient pleasures as a vision seem,

      And yet we think the greatest pain 's to die.


How strange it is that man on earth should roam,

      And lead a life of woe, but not forsake

His rugged path; nor dare he view alone

      His future doom, which is but to awake.

#existentialism #human suffering #john keats #mortality #transience

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