Poems (Odom)/Only a Memory Now
LIFE'S CHANGES.
The sunlight shimmers on all below,The violets breathe and the roses blow,Bringing the beautiful long-ago Back to my heart again.
Where the lilies grew in the deepest shade,And even the drooping rose-leaves madeA fragrant path where the angels strayed To touch my soul with light.
I gayly sang my childish lays,And blither still were my girlish days,When friends stood by to smile and praise Each word and deed of mine.
While Fortune from her chalice fairFlung golden showers on the air—And I was glad, for I thought despair To me could never come.
My life was like some flowering vine,That gaily danced in the bright sunshine,As though the earth and its joys were mine— Alas! how little I knew.
But the golden sun went down at last,And the bright blue sky was overcast—Till even the timid stars have passed In shivering fright away.
Soon fickle Fortune fled the scene,Cold darkness reigned where light had been,And heavy clouds rose up between My happy youth and me.
The leaves of womanhood unfold,For me, without one tint of gold,And age seems dreary, dark, and cold— I scarce should dread the grave.
But for the light that never dies,That glimmers still beyond the skies,To guide the dead when they shall rise, My soul would faint indeed.
ONLY A MEMORY NOW.
Only the hush of a soft June night,With a deep-blue sky and its starry lightThat fell on the roses freshly bright— Only a memory now.
Only the violets blooming there,Freighting the slumb'rous summer air,Weaving the beauty the angels wear— Only a memory now.
Only a whispered word or twoFrom eager lips and the eyes of blue,Looking so honest, brave, and true— Only a memory now.
Only a silent, sweet caress,On a girlish brow and a waving tress,The faintest sound of a whispered "Yes"— Only a memory now.
Only an hour of foolish bliss,Of clasping hands, and a lover's kissThat youth has known and life must miss— Only a memory now.
Only a pale dead love that lies,With dumb, cold lips and sightless eyes,Barring the gates of Paradise— Only a memory now.