What is Life? A Bridge that ever

Bears a throng across a river;

                                                              There the Taker, here a Giver.

                                                                                    What is Life? Its beginning

                                                                                    From the Staff is Clotho spinning

                                                                                    Golden threads and worth the winning.

                                                          Life beginnning and Life ending,

                                                          Life his substance ever ending,

                                                         Time to Life his little lending.

                                                                                         Life with Life, fate-woven ever,

                                                                                         Life the web, and Love the weaver

                                                                                         Atropos at last doth sever.

                                                     What is Life to Grief complaining?

                                                     Fortune, Fame, and Love disdaining

                                                     Hope, perchance, alone remaining.

British artist Walter Crane (1845-1915) wrote this sonnet to accompany his remarkable painting “The Bridge of Life,” a glimpse into a magic world of pictured poetry, people, a twilight of nature with evergreens veiled in a sunny, gold light. He was a designer and book illustrator specializing in children’s books. But first of all, he was a dreamer. Look at this picture. Appreciate your life, keep up on dreaming, hope for the better, and be happy. Great art is always healing and rejuvenating!                                                                  

“Think of all the beauty that’s still left in and around you and be happy.”–Anne Frank

Source: Walter Crane Archive, the University of Manchester , Walter Crane “The Bridge of Life.”