Poems (Edwards)/We are Passing Away

by Matilda Caroline Smiley Edwards

WE ARE PASSING AWAY.

When morning is breaking and darkness has fled,
And the stars sink to rest in their fathomless bed,
When the sun rises up from his glorious sleep,
The bright world in beauty and gladness to steep,
As soft o'er creation his golden beams stray,
They speak to our hearts, "We are passing away."

The dewdrops that fall from the blue sky above,
To rest on the flowers and leaves in the grove,
Like tears that steal soft from the angels' bright eyes,
As they stoop to look down from their home in the skies,
Each glittering drop in the wood seems to say,
"Take warning, frail mortals, ye are passing away."

We are passing away when we look on the flowers
That bloom in the brightest and greenest of bowers,
We view them with feelings of joy and of pain,
For we know when we enter the garden again,
The sweetest among them will have gone to decay,
And the dead leaves will whisper, "We are passing away."

When the birds are all soaring away from our clime,
To find a warm sky, and a bright summer time,
Where the soft breeze comes fresh from the beautiful sea,
And the flowers spring up from the moss-covered lea,
As they rise to their wings on their sunny bound way,
They sing to our hearts, "We are passing away."

We are passing away to the gloom of the grave,
We are passing away on time's rapid wave;
Life's valuable moments are vanishing fast,
And the present, ere long, will belong to the past.
Then let us improve each moment we stay;
For lo! "We are passing, we are passing away!"