The league of the Iroquois and other legends : from the Indian muse

XX
THE BETTER LAND.
WOKLD of Time !
wert thou the whole,
Whose outward aspect darkly shows,
Nor lived beyond the chastened Soul,
Nor more divinely fair arose,
And more in joy and beauty grown
In years that are Eternity,
Did life no Life Immortal own,
Were it not better not to be ?
No path but is by sorrow crossed,
No spot but is bedewed with tears ;
No loving heart but it hath lost
Some treasure, loss still more endears.
To all, the troubled days that pass
Bring endless labor, little gain ;
Or brief delights that leave, alas !
But keener sense of after-pain.
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