96
miscellaneous poems.
THE REVERSE.
Life was to me a summer day,
So full of youth and bloom,
Of light and lovliness; and earth,
A garden of perfume.
So full of youth and bloom,
Of light and lovliness; and earth,
A garden of perfume.
I knew not that those sunny hours
Could be by storms o'ercast;
I did but dream that gentle showers
Would fall—too light to last.
Could be by storms o'ercast;
I did but dream that gentle showers
Would fall—too light to last.
And yet I've lived to see that sky
By tempests wildly riven:
To see earth's flow'rets fade and die,
Before the whirlwind driven.
By tempests wildly riven:
To see earth's flow'rets fade and die,
Before the whirlwind driven.
To mourn, with anguish'd heart, the wreck
Of all that made life fair;
To feel that roses oft may deck
The forehead of despair.
Of all that made life fair;
To feel that roses oft may deck
The forehead of despair.
