THE SERIOUS "VIVE LA BAGATELLE."
Bright world! you may write on my heart what you will,
But write it with pencil, not pen;
Your hand hath its skill: but a hand finer still
What you write soon erases again.
To the moment its laugh, and its smile to the flower!
Not niggard we give them; but why?
Old Time must devour the year as the hour:
Remains but Eternity.
Aubrey de Vere.