 | Parliamentary Letters, and Other Poems |  |
55
RETROSPECTION.
When I look back upon the past,
As o'er a troubled sea;
I mourn when I reflect how fast
The hand of Time has overcast
Days once endear'd to me.
As o'er a troubled sea;
I mourn when I reflect how fast
The hand of Time has overcast
Days once endear'd to me.
Our early joys we dimly trace,
When sorrows intervene;
Now care our former thoughts displace,
And many a friendly form and face
Are indistinctly seen.
When sorrows intervene;
Now care our former thoughts displace,
And many a friendly form and face
Are indistinctly seen.
56
Yet though the gloomy lapse of years
Youth's fickle ties may part;
Love—an unchanging brightness wears,
And e'en in sorrow it appears
To sooth the wounded heart.
Youth's fickle ties may part;
Love—an unchanging brightness wears,
And e'en in sorrow it appears
To sooth the wounded heart.
Though pain'd, and slighted, and oppress'd,
It still retains its truth;
In age—outliving all the rest,
This passion clings around the breast,
Reminding us of youth.
It still retains its truth;
In age—outliving all the rest,
This passion clings around the breast,
Reminding us of youth.
| Parliamentary Letters, and Other Poems | |