So the gay hopes we chase with ardent zeal — Which view’d at distance to our gaze appear Sweetly embodied, tangible, and real — Elude our grasp, and melt away to air: The test of touch too delicate to bear, In unsubstantial loveliness thy glow Before our wistful eyes, too passing fair For earth to realize or man to know, Whose life is but a scene of fallacy and woe.
