Thomas Carlyle

Cui Bono

What is Hope? A smiling rainbow
    	Children follow through the wet;
’Tis not here, still yonder, yonder:
    	Never urchin found it yet.

What is Life? A thawing iceboard
    	On a sea with sunny shore; –
Gay we sail; it melts beneath us;
   	We are sunk, and seen no more.

What is Man? A foolish baby,
  	Vainly strives, and fights, and frets;
Demanding all, deserving nothing; –
  	One small grave is what he gets.

Note 
The title may be translated as “of what good” (Latin).