Click in the field, then press CTRL+C to copy the HTML code
<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426418" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Gulf of All Human Possessions</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426418" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Come hither, and behold the fruits,<br>Vain man! of all thy vain pursuits.<br>Take wise advice, and look behind,<br>Bring all past actions to thy mind.<br>Here you may see, as in a glass,<br>How soon all human pleasures pass;<br>How will it mortify thy pride,<br>To turn the true impartial side!<br>How will your eyes contain their tears,<br>When all the sad reverse appears!<br>This cave within its womb confines<br>The last result of all designs:<br>Here lie deposited the spoils<br>Of busy mortals' endless toils:<br>Here, with an easy search, we find<br>The foul corruptions of mankind.<br>The wretched purchase here behold<br>Of traitors, who their country sold.<br>This gulf insatiate imbibes<br>The lawyer's fees, the statesman's bribes.<br>Here, in their proper shape and mien,<br>Fraud, perjury, and guilt are seen.<br>Necessity, the tyrant's law,<br>All human race must hither draw;<br>All prompted by the same desire,<br>The vigorous youth and aged sire.<br>Behold the coward and the brave,<br>The haughty prince, the humble slave,<br>Physician, lawyer, and divine,<br>All make oblations at this shrine.<br>Some enter boldly, some by stealth,<br>And leave behind their fruitless wealth.<br>For, while the bashful sylvan maid,<br>As half-ashamed and half-afraid,<br>Approaching finds it hard to part<br>With that which dwelt so near her heart;<br>The courtly dame, unmoved by fear,<br>Profusely pours her offering here.<br>A treasure here of learning lurks,<br>Huge heaps of never-dying works;<br>Labours of many an ancient sage,<br>And millions of the present age.<br>In at this gulf all offerings pass<br>And lie an undistinguish'd mass.<br>Deucalion, to restore mankind,<br>Was bid to throw the stones behind;<br>So those who here their gifts convey<br>Are forced to look another way;<br>For few, a chosen few, must know<br>The mysteries that lie below.<br>Sad charnel-house! a dismal dome,<br>For which all mortals leave their home!<br>The young, the beautiful, and brave,<br>Here buried in one common grave!<br>Where each supply of dead renews<br>Unwholesome damps, offensive dews:<br>And lo! the writing on the walls<br>Points out where each new victim falls;<br>The food of worms and beasts obscene,<br>Who round the vault luxuriant reign.<br>See where those mangled corpses lie,<br>Condemn'd by female hands to die;<br>A comely dame once clad in white,<br>Lies there consign'd to endless night;<br>By cruel hands her blood was spilt,<br>And yet her wealth was all her guilt.<br>And here six virgins in a tomb,<br>All-beauteous offspring of one womb,<br>Oft in the train of Venus seen,<br>As fair and lovely as their queen;<br>In royal garments each was drest,<br>Each with a gold and purple vest;<br>I saw them of their garments stript,<br>Their throats were cut, their bellies ript,<br>Twice were they buried, twice were born,<br>Twice from their sepulchres were torn;<br>But now dismember'd here are cast,<br>And find a resting-place at last.<br>Here oft the curious traveller finds<br>The combat of opposing winds;<br>And seeks to learn the secret cause,<br>Which alien seems from nature's laws;<br>Why at this cave's tremendous mouth,<br>He feels at once both north and south;<br>Whether the winds, in caverns pent,<br>Through clefts oppugnant force a vent;<br>Or whether, opening all his stores,<br>Fierce AEolus in tempest roars.<br>Yet, from this mingled mass of things,<br>In time a new creation springs.<br>These crude materials once shall rise<br>To fill the earth, and air, and skies;<br>In various forms appear again,<br>Of vegetables, brutes, and men.<br>So Jove pronounced among the gods,<br>Olympus trembling as he nods.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><a href="http://poems.citatepedia.com/">poem</a> by <strong><a rel="author" href="http://authors.citatepedia.com/by.php?a=Jonathan+Swift">Jonathan Swift</a></strong></div>