title: Without Distinction
author: Henry Livingston Jr.
date: undated (c. 1827)
source: manuscript book of daughter Jane Livingston (Thomas Collection), poems in Henry Livingston's hand (site lists it with the 1827 poems). URL: https://www.henrylivingston.com/writing/poetry/without.htm (fetched via https://web.archive.org/web/20250522013514/https://www.henrylivingston.com/writing/poetry/without.htm)
form: iambic tetrameter
lines: 6
attribution: certain
notes: Serious six-line meditation on obscurity and the immortal spark. MS scan: https://www.henrylivingston.com/writing/poetry/janesdoublepages/p64-p65.htm

Without distinction, fame, or note
Upon the tide of life I float,
A bubble almost lost to sight
As cobweb frail, as vapor light;
And yet within that bubble lies
A spark of life which never dies.