{
 "id": "sarah-louisa-forten-purvis/life",
 "title": "Life",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Sarah Louisa Forten Purvis",
 "poet_slug": "sarah-louisa-forten-purvis",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Poetry",
 "book_slug": null,
 "book_kind": "compilation",
 "sequence": null,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1833,
  "venue": "The Liberator 3 (Boston, 3 August 1833)",
  "note": "Printed in the “Ladies’ Department” column under the standing note “[For the Liberator.]”. The issue number was not legible in the scan; the volume and the date are read from the masthead.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/sn84031524_1833080301"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/sarah-louisa-forten-purvis_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://archive.org/details/liberator1831garr",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1832-06-30_2_26",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1832-07-07_2_27",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1833-05-25_3_21",
   "https://archive.org/details/sn84031524_1833080301",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1833-12-21_3_51",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1834-01-04_4_1",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1834-01-18_4_3",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1834-02-01_4_5",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1835-06-27_5_26",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_cincinnati-weekly-herald-and-philanthropist_1836-03-11_1_11"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 24,
  "n_stanzas": 6,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 41,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "To see our pathway strewn with flowers,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While ’neath their sunny hue,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "We fear that many a rankling care",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lies hidden from our view;",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "To cull the flowers, to love their bloom,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A season to enjoy;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To mark the blast that rudely comes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their beauties to destroy:⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Such is our life. How full of change!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How much of hope or fears!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Scarce on the cheek is seen the smile,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ere it is lost in tears.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "To see the cherished things of earth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On which we placed the heart,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Fade, one by one, before our eyes,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And silently depart;⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "This is our life⁠—and who can tell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What future hours may bring?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "What hopes will cheer the panting heart,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While close to earth we cling?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The morning of our days are bright,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And could the vision last⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But ’tis forbid⁠—oh! changeful life,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How soon the dream is past!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}