Poems (Charlotte Allen)/Reply to a Questioner

by Charlotte Allen

REPLY TO A QUESTIONER.

Thou asked if I was ever sad?
 If grief ne'er dimmed my eye?
If I was always gay and glad,
 If sorrow passed me by?

Do thorns not mix with flowers,
 Along our pathway here?
Are not life's fleeting hours,
 Oft moistened with a tear?

Ask of the buried past,
 If cherished hopes are there,
Within its confines cast,
 To wither with despair.

Visit the gayest scene,
 And find the lightest heart;
See if its joyous beam,
 With sorrow hath no part.

Ask of the sparkling wave
 That sportive hurries by,
If it is not the grave
 Of life's uncertainty.

Though smooth the surface be,
 Lurks there no tide below?
The heart may silently
 Inhale some secret woe.

Smiles may be oft a mask,
 Our feelings to conceal;
And what you idly ask,
 The future may reveal.

By an Almighty Power,
 Was filled our cup of life;
Teems it not every hour,
 With cherished blessings rife.

And though a passing cloud
 May dim our mental view,
Should sadness always shroud
 The mind in sombre hue?

Go seek Time's storied urn,
 Remove the dust of ages,
And thou wilt truly learn,
 Sadness hath marked its pages.