Ah!—What should follow slips from my reflection;
Whatever follows ne’ertheless may be
As à-propos of Hope or Retrospection,
As though the lurking thought had followed free.
All present life is but an Interjection,
An “Oh!” or “Ah!” of Joy or Misery,
Or a “Ha! ha!” or “Bah!”—a yawn, or “Pooh!”
Of which perhaps the latter is most true.