oh, I would be alone!
Until at last some worldly care,
Like a huge rock uplift in air,
Breaks the pure radiance of the past—
By far too bright and smooth to last:
It may unite, yet be no more
The same bright stream it was of yore.
These lone, sweet hours I would not give
For all that makes the gay heart live;
The meaner joys, that cling to earth,
Can never make existence worth;
But the spell of nature lives for ever,
And is to man a life-long treasure.
Like a huge rock uplift in air,
Breaks the pure radiance of the past—
By far too bright and smooth to last:
It may unite, yet be no more
The same bright stream it was of yore.
These lone, sweet hours I would not give
For all that makes the gay heart live;
The meaner joys, that cling to earth,
Can never make existence worth;
But the spell of nature lives for ever,
And is to man a life-long treasure.
61
