Page:Poems and ballads (IA balladspoems00swinrich).pdf/114

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AGE AND SONG.

(TO BARRY CORNWALL.)

 

i.

In vain men tell us time can alter

Old loves or make old memories falter,
That with the old year the old year's life closes.
The old dew still falls on the old sweet flowers,
The old sun revives the new-fledged hours,
The old summer rears the new-born roses.

ii.

Much more a Muse that bears upon her

Raiment and wreath and flower of honour,
Gathered long since and long since woven,
Fades not or falls as fall the vernal
Blossoms that bear no fruit eternal,
By summer or winter charred or cloven.