I once strode down a mountain's side,
A thoughtless boy, in youth's young pride,
And stopped to pluck a violet
With diamond dews of morn still wet;
But, as I paused, a poisonous snake,
Coiled near, dared me the flower to take!

So, all through life, a poisonous stream
Is mingled with the sweetest dream!
Our smiles and tears, like sun and rain,
Commingled are with joy and pain.