 | Love ; or Woman's Destiny |  |
101
GROWING OLD.
Growing old! growing old! Do they say it of me?
Do they hint my fine fancies are faded and fled?
That my garden of life, like the winter swept tree,
Is frozen and dying, or fallen and dead?
Do they hint my fine fancies are faded and fled?
That my garden of life, like the winter swept tree,
Is frozen and dying, or fallen and dead?
Is the heart growing old, when each beautiful thing
Like a landscape at eve, looks more tenderly bright,
And love sweeter seems, as the bird's wand'ring wing
Draws nearer her nest at the coming of night?
Like a landscape at eve, looks more tenderly bright,
And love sweeter seems, as the bird's wand'ring wing
Draws nearer her nest at the coming of night?
102
Is the Mind growing old, when with ardor of youth
Through the flower-walks of Wisdom new paths it would try,
And seek, not for shells from the ocean of Truth,
But the Pearl of great price, which the World cannot buy?
Through the flower-walks of Wisdom new paths it would try,
And seek, not for shells from the ocean of Truth,
But the Pearl of great price, which the World cannot buy?
Is the Soul growing old? See, the planet of even,
When rising at morn, melts in glory above,—
Thus, turning from earth, we creep closer to Heaven,
Like a child to her father's warm welcoming love.
When rising at morn, melts in glory above,—
Thus, turning from earth, we creep closer to Heaven,
Like a child to her father's warm welcoming love.
Does the mortal grow older as years roll away?
'Tis change, not destruction; kind winter will bring
Fresh life to the germ and perfect it. Decay
Holds the youth bud Immortal, and heralds its spring.
'Tis change, not destruction; kind winter will bring
Fresh life to the germ and perfect it. Decay
Holds the youth bud Immortal, and heralds its spring.
103
Growing old, growing old! Can it ever be true
While joy for life's blessings is thankful and warm,
And hopes sown for others are blooming anew,
And the rainbow of Promise bends over the storm?
While joy for life's blessings is thankful and warm,
And hopes sown for others are blooming anew,
And the rainbow of Promise bends over the storm?
Growing old, growing old! No, we never grow old,
If, like little children, we trust in the WORD,
And reckoning earth's treasures by Heaven's pure gold,
We lay our weak hands on the strength of the Lord.
If, like little children, we trust in the WORD,
And reckoning earth's treasures by Heaven's pure gold,
We lay our weak hands on the strength of the Lord.
| Love ; or Woman's Destiny | |