THERE is one cup earth's children all may drink;
One instant full of joy! He seized and drank;
When suddenly, as vessels full-sailed sink,
Struck by the storm, even thus the goblet sank
Out of his keeping, and he backward sank
Into the desert, like to die athirst,
Though longing still to hear the music burst
From other lips, of joy to him a blank.

He was alone! His solitary cry
Returned to him! All voices else were still;
But through the silence of the summer sky
There fell the calmness of eternity,--
There fell the little leaves that drop and die
And hide from sight all sign of mortal ill.