quote · Legacy record
Traveller, as roaming over vales and steeps, Thou hast, perchance, beheld in foliage fair A willow bending o’er a brook—it weeps, Leaf after leaf, into the stream, till bare Are the best boughs, the lovliest and the brightest, Oh! sigh, for well thou may’st, yet as thou sighest, Think not ’tis o’er imaginary woe; I tell thee, traveller, such is mortal man, And so he hangs o’er fancied bliss, and so, While life is verging to its shortest span, Drop one by one his dearest joys away, Till hope is but the ghost of something fair, Till joy is mockery, till life is care, Till he himself is unreflecting clay.
Traveller, as roaming over vales and steeps, Thou hast, perchance, beheld in foliage fair A willow bending o’er a brook—it weeps, Leaf after leaf, into the stream, till bare Are the best boughs, the lovliest and the brightest, Oh! sigh, for well thou may’st, yet as thou sighest, Think not ’tis o’er imaginary woe; I tell thee, traveller, such is mortal man, And so he hangs o’er fancied bliss, and so, While life is verging to its shortest span, Drop one by one his dearest joys away, Till hope is but the ghost of something fair, Till joy is mockery, till life is care, Till he himself is unreflecting clay.
In print by 1888 AD · industrial
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Meaning not yet available
An individual explanation has not yet been added. We do not substitute a generic description for an interpretation of these particular words.
Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Henry Neele (identity unresolved)
Attribution: unknown - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- In print by 1888 AD · industrial
In print by 1888: recorded in A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 375 · printed citation: Henry Neele · subject: MAN
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.