[b]In the great game of existence
(John MacDuff, "Thoughts for the Quiet Hour", 1895)
Sad the case of those who had the possibilities
of a good and useful existence--but have lived
fatally and hopelessly given up to . . .
sloth, or
flippant pleasure, or
engrossing selfishness.
Those fugitive, precious moments we are
forgetting and wasting, cannot be recovered.
In the great game of existence many are staking
all and losing all--drifting to hopeless, irremediable
bankruptcy. That is a solemn word--a dreadful
truth--the irreparable past!
Death will dissolve many a 'fairy vision' that has lured
and charmed us. Death will sweep down many 'flimsy
cobwebs of earth' that we have laboriously weaved--
poor tawdry things we have so often clung to and
clutched!