Alfred Austin

Poem "Is Life Worth Living?" http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/9/3/1/19316/19316.htm

• Is life worth living? Yes, so long
  As Spring revives the year,
  And hails us with the cuckoo's song,
  To show that she is here;

• Is life worth living? Yes, so long
  As there is wrong to right,
  Wail of the weak against the strong,
  Or tyranny to fight;

• So long as faith with freedom reigns
  And loyal hope survives,
  And gracious charity remains
  To leaven lowly lives;
  While there is one untrodden tract
  For intellect or will,
  And men are free to think and act,
  Life is worth living still.

• He is dead already who doth not feel
  Life is worth living still.

Unsourced

• O'er the wires the electric message came,
  "He is no better; he is much the same."
  • An 1871 poem on the illness of the Prince of Wales, although there is some doubt that Austin actually wrote this part.