They talk of short-lived pleasure-be it so-
Pain dies as quickly: stern, hard-featured pain
Expires, and lets her weary prisoner go.
The fiercest agonies have shortest reign;
And after dreams of horror, comes again
The welcome morning with its rays of peace;
Oblivion, softly wiping out the stain,
Makes the strong secret pangs of shame to cease:
Remorse is virtue's root; its fair increase
Are fruits of innocence and blessedness:
Thus joy, o'erborne and bound, doth still release
His young limbs from the chains that round him press.
Weep not that the world changes-did it keep
A stable, changeless state, 'twere cause indeed to weep.
Mutation: A Sonnet
William Cullen Bryant
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Poem topics: innocence, joy, peace, world, pleasure, oblivion, young, strong, hard, morning, prisoner, secret, talk, shame, short, bound, increase, release, horror, pain, Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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