MY BIRTH-DAY.
81
My natal day!
In other, happier years, I used to hail
Its advent with a thrill of joy and pride
For then I deemed it but an added link
To a young life that would for ever wear
The lovely rose-tints of the morning heavens
That hung serene and beautiful above,
Unbroken by a storm-cloud; but to-day
A sigh, a tear, is in my soul to think
Wave after wave of my existence thus
Breaks on the shore of old Eternity,
And sinks to silence and to nothingness.
Here in my spirit's awful solitude
I muse upon the thousand hopes that rushed
Impatient to life's banquet, and expired
In tasting of the poison-cup they thought
A boon the gods might crave.
In other, happier years, I used to hail
Its advent with a thrill of joy and pride
For then I deemed it but an added link
To a young life that would for ever wear
The lovely rose-tints of the morning heavens
That hung serene and beautiful above,
Unbroken by a storm-cloud; but to-day
A sigh, a tear, is in my soul to think
Wave after wave of my existence thus
Breaks on the shore of old Eternity,
And sinks to silence and to nothingness.
Here in my spirit's awful solitude
I muse upon the thousand hopes that rushed
Impatient to life's banquet, and expired
In tasting of the poison-cup they thought
A boon the gods might crave.
My birth-day! Years
Have flown and left me a lone mourner. One
By one I've seen the deeply, dearly loved,
Have flown and left me a lone mourner. One
By one I've seen the deeply, dearly loved,
