What can you do to get higher than heaven?
What can you know to go deeper than hell?
What can you ask but an age old question?
What can I say no tongue can tell?

There is a time when all will be forgotten,
When all beneath the sun to ashes burn;
When the fruit on the vine is rotten,
And to earth, as dust, returns.

Howbeit, if with cloud comes thunder,
And with thunder, brings the rain,
All the same, we’re left to wonder—
(With no answer to obtain)—:

What can you do to get higher than heaven?
What can you know to go deeper than hell?
What can you ask but an age old question?
What can I say no tongue can tell?

In spite of all the time we spend attending
To what's been seen and said, desired and done:
Clouds on high grow far-extending,
And the light is overcome.  

Howbeit, if with cloud comes thunder,
And with thunder, brings the rain,
All the same, we’re left to wonder—
(With no answer to obtain)—:

What can you do to get higher than heaven?
What can you know to go deeper than hell?
What can you ask but an age old question?
What can I say no tongue can tell?