188
ONE DROP IN THE CUP OF MEMORY.
Alas! when those who guide our steps,
In youth's unthinking ways,
Teach us to scorn the humbler poor,
Even in our little plays,
They little know the store they bring
To life's advancing years,
To poison the wine of memory
With drops of bitter tears!
In youth's unthinking ways,
Teach us to scorn the humbler poor,
Even in our little plays,
They little know the store they bring
To life's advancing years,
To poison the wine of memory
With drops of bitter tears!
One drop in the cup of memory,
One drop of bitterness;
Amidst the thousand lovely things
That vivify and bless.
I know not if it e'er again
Will from that cup depart;
But I would that bitter drop was poured
From out that poor child's heart!
One drop of bitterness;
Amidst the thousand lovely things
That vivify and bless.
I know not if it e'er again
Will from that cup depart;
But I would that bitter drop was poured
From out that poor child's heart!
