Youth And Age

Verse, a Breeze 'mid blossoms straying,

Where

PE clung feeding, like a bee--Both were mine !

Life went a-maying      With

RE,

PE, and

SY,                      I was young!

When I was young? -- Ah, woeful

EN!

Ah ! for the Change 'twixt Now and Then!

This breathing House not built with hands,

This body that does me grievous wrong,

O'er æry Cliffs and glittering Sands,

How lightly then it flashed along:--Like those trim skiffs, unknown of yore,

On winding lakes and rivers wide,

That ask no aid of Sail or Oar,

That fear no spite of Wind or Tide!

Nought cared this Body for wind or

When

TH and I lived in't together.

RS are lovely;

VE is flower-like;

IP is a sheltering tree;

O! the Joys, that came down shower-like,

Of

IP,

VE, and

TY,                            Ere I was old!

Ere I was old? -- Ah woeful

RE,

Which tells me,

TH'S no longer here!

O

TH! for years so many and sweet,'Tis known, that Thou and I were one,

I'll think it but a fond conceit--It cannot be that Thou art gone!

Thy Vesper-bell hath not yet toll'd:--And thou wert aye a Masker bold!

What strange Disguise hast now put on,

To make believe, that thou art gone?

I see these Locks in silvery slips,

This drooping Gait, this altered Size:

But

DE blossoms on thy Lips,

And Tears take sunshine from thine eyes!

Life is but Thought: so think I

That

TH and I are House-mates still.

Dew-drops are the gems of morning,

But the tears of mournful eve!

Where no hope is, life's a

That only serves to make us grieve,                  When we are old:

That only serves to make us

With oft and tedious taking-leave,

Like some poor nigh-related guest,

That may not rudely be dismist;

Yet hath outstay'd his welcome while,

And tells the jest without the smile.