 | English melodies |  |
220
OH! FIRST TIME CAME.
Oh! first Time came in crimson shoes—
With little roses blue and yellow,
He came with playthings, to amuse,
And I was then a happy fellow:
In dancing soles he next skipp'd by,
With song and music, sweet and sprightly,
While Love's eyes o'er Time's shoulder nigh,
Smil'd forth, like stars of heaven, nightly.
With little roses blue and yellow,
He came with playthings, to amuse,
And I was then a happy fellow:
In dancing soles he next skipp'd by,
With song and music, sweet and sprightly,
While Love's eyes o'er Time's shoulder nigh,
Smil'd forth, like stars of heaven, nightly.
Again Time call'd in boots and spurs,
And rode as if his days were number'd;
The next in slippers, lin'd with furs,
In elbow-chair he sat, and slumber'd:
I heard the distant music play,
I thought of hours of love and dancing,
But Time grew slower, day by day,
As if with hearse and plume advancing.
And rode as if his days were number'd;
The next in slippers, lin'd with furs,
In elbow-chair he sat, and slumber'd:
I heard the distant music play,
I thought of hours of love and dancing,
But Time grew slower, day by day,
As if with hearse and plume advancing.
221
Ah me! but once sweet Childhood comes,
But once bright Youth to love may guide us,
Time, year to year, like lightning sums,
And age and darkness stand beside us:
Ah well! old Time, life's but a day—
With some few gleams our path adorning;
The night will come, whate'er we say—
It cannot always, Time, be morning.
But once bright Youth to love may guide us,
Time, year to year, like lightning sums,
And age and darkness stand beside us:
Ah well! old Time, life's but a day—
With some few gleams our path adorning;
The night will come, whate'er we say—
It cannot always, Time, be morning.
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