Poetical Fragments from Ethel Churchill Volume I/An Old Man’s View of Life

by Letitia Elizabeth Landon

CHAPTER XXXI.

AN OLD MAN'S VIEW OF LIFE.

We tremble even in our happiness;
Hurried and dim, the unknown hours press
Heavy with care or grief, that none may ever guess.

The future is more present than the past:
For one look back a thousand on we cast,
And Hope doth ever Memory outlast.

For Hope say Fear—Hope is a timid thing,
Fearful, and weak, and born in suffering;
At least, such Hope as human life can bring.

Its home, it is not here, it looks beyond;
And, while it carries an enchanter's wand,
Its spells are conscious of their earthly bond.

Not in Blanchard

Altered from The Future in The Monthly Magazine, 1834, Vol 1, a poem that is
already included in Blanchard’s Life and Literary Remains.