I found the Urn

I found the Urn 
      – the one that all men of great genius
had sang upon -
And great was my surprise
      – it had but cracks –
mortality had touched it
there, in the grass, where it still lies  –
it was not soiled by time, yet it had lost its luster 
the piper's song seemed out of tune somehow
his lover’s fairness dry, the bough weary
      –  though still high –

I found the Urn
      – the one that promised Truth to be
the same with Beauty  –
yet when I put it close towards the shining Sun
I saw its seal of Truth a mere impersonation,
they tried to copy Beauty
      – but value it had none  –

And then I thought of you, of love and
      – of infinity –
And thought how silly the world was born to be
Ever running for something it does not even know
      – to exist –
The only thing that matters is this!
This that we see now, for now is all we have
This that we hold, for it is all we receive,
This that we love, for one day it will leave!

I found the Urn
– and to my great surprise
I understood it had
but little value
in my watery eyes –
for it told me a story
of arts and crafts,
of riches and dreams,
of power and grand ideas,
but most of all it spoke
of man’s greatest folly
– to live eternally –