Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
Sonnet: ‘Men change,—that heaven above not more’
By William Ellery Channing (1818–1901)[From Poems. 1843.—Poems. Second Series. 1847.]
M
Which now with white clouds is all beautiful,
Soon is with gray mists a poor creature dull;
Thus, in this human theatre, actions pour
Like slight waves on a melancholy shore;
Nothing is fixed, the human heart is null,
’Tis taught by scholars, ’tis rehearsed in lore;
Methinks this human heart might well be o’er.
O precious pomp of eterne vanity!
O false fool world! whose actions are a race
Of monstrous puppets; I can’t form one plea
Why any man should wear a smiling face.
World! thou art one green sepulchre to me,
Through which, mid clouds of dust, slowly I pace.