Cui Bono
by Thomas Carlyle
  
What is Hope? A smiling rainbow 
Children follow through the wet; 
’Tis not here, still yonder, yonder: 
Never urchin found it yet. 
  
What is Life? A thawing iceboard 
On a sea with sunny shore;— 
Gay we sail; it melts beneath us; 
We are sunk, and seen no more. 
  
What is Man? A foolish baby, 
Vainly strives, and fights, and frets; 
Demanding all, deserving nothing;— 
One small grave is what he gets.