Poems (Brown)/Life's Changes
For works with similar titles, see Life's Changes.
LIFE'S CHANGES.
It was a balmy day in June, And the lovely birds were singing,And the very air was humming notes That village bells were ringing.
Forth I wandered to the willow, Sat me down upon the green,Watched the sunshine gladly dancing Overhead, with gladsome beam.
I had been for years a wanderer, Roaming far in distant lands;And my weary form was bending; Time on me had laid his hands.
All at once I heard a prattling Of some little voices sweet,And my eyes with light were beaming— I could hear my heartstrings beat.
Nearer came that laughing band, Bounding forth in merry gleeBut soon they spied my aged form, And curious looks they bent on me.
Eagerly I scanned the group, To see if one was thereWhose agile form I once had loved, And praised her dark brown hair.
But their faces all were strange, And I turned away to weep;While the sunbeams sank to rest, And all Nature fell asleep.
Youth I wandered to the homestead, Stood beside the moss-grown well;But the strange despair that filled me Words like these can never tell.
Gone were parents, brothers, sisters; I of all was left alone;And a sound from moving tree-tops Seemed to echo back—Alone.
Sick at heart I wandered sadly To the graveyard cold and white,And my eyes with tears were filling; On my heart there seemed a blight.
And I called aloud to Silence, "Tell me, tell me, where are theyThat are absent from the hearth-stone, That are absent from their play?
"Answer, Silence! thou, O mortal, Tell thy answer unto me."And they murmured sadly, strangely, "Mounds in the graveyard tell it to thee."
Alas! alas! 'twas but too true,— They were sleeping in the grave;Now the willow and the daisy Gently o'er their loved heads wave.
And I bowed my head in sorrow, As my steps I homeward bent;For life's dark changes come to all; Our earthly days are only lent.