W HAT'S this vain world to me?
— — Rest is not here;
False are the smiles I see,
— — The mirth I hear.
Where is youth's joyful glee?
Where all once dear to me?
Gone as the shadows flee —
— — Rest is not here.

Why did the morning shine
— — Blithely and fair?
Why did those tints so fine
— — Vanish in air?
Does not the vision say,
Faint lingering heart, away,
Why in this desert stay —
— — Dark land of care!

Where souls angelic soar,
— — Thither repair:
Let this vain world no more
— — Lull and ensnare.
That heaven I love so well
Still in my heart shall dwell;
All things around me tell
— — Rest is found there.