 | Lays of Melpomene |  |
63
MUSINGS.
The youthful heart is heir to wealth
That years can never tell;
The youthful soul does deeds by stealth
That might in triumph swell—
The thought that tunes a generous mind
Oft dies upon the wing,
And bosoms feeling, fond and kind,
Writhe oft 'neath torture's sting.
That years can never tell;
The youthful soul does deeds by stealth
That might in triumph swell—
The thought that tunes a generous mind
Oft dies upon the wing,
And bosoms feeling, fond and kind,
Writhe oft 'neath torture's sting.
Gay hope, the night-fire of the brain,
Allures the heart to woe
With beams, that pleasure lends to pain
This faithless world to show;
And we are sped on life's lone way
By gilded goading spears,
While flitting fancy's meteor ray
Emblazons misery's tears.
Allures the heart to woe
With beams, that pleasure lends to pain
This faithless world to show;
And we are sped on life's lone way
By gilded goading spears,
While flitting fancy's meteor ray
Emblazons misery's tears.
The deepest woes we feel below,
The wildest throes of pain,
From our own fond illusions flow,
When sanguine passions reign;
For guileful flattery soothes the heart
That malice turns to sting,
And love, full oft, o'er ruin's dart
Its vermeil veil will fling.
The wildest throes of pain,
From our own fond illusions flow,
When sanguine passions reign;
For guileful flattery soothes the heart
That malice turns to sting,
And love, full oft, o'er ruin's dart
Its vermeil veil will fling.
Anticipations ever glow
In self-delusion's light,
While sorrow's tear and misery's throe
Sublime the heart's delight;
As silver clouds in fleecy wreaths
A summer sunbeam shade,
When breezy music softly breathes
Along the waving glade.
In self-delusion's light,
While sorrow's tear and misery's throe
Sublime the heart's delight;
As silver clouds in fleecy wreaths
A summer sunbeam shade,
When breezy music softly breathes
Along the waving glade.
64
Undimmed by time, the youthful eye
Sheds tears unchilled by all
Those wayward feuds, that burst the tie
Of love when envies call,
And in the rudely tilting world
Engender woe and strife,
When friendship from his seat is hurled,
And pride companions life.
Sheds tears unchilled by all
Those wayward feuds, that burst the tie
Of love when envies call,
And in the rudely tilting world
Engender woe and strife,
When friendship from his seat is hurled,
And pride companions life.
Darkness, disease and doubt will blight
The fairest dreams of bliss,
And rapture plunge, in sorrow's night,
To agony's abyss;
The fairy frost-work of an hour
Decays in misery's flame,
And false and vain are pomp and power,
And fleeting as a name.
The fairest dreams of bliss,
And rapture plunge, in sorrow's night,
To agony's abyss;
The fairy frost-work of an hour
Decays in misery's flame,
And false and vain are pomp and power,
And fleeting as a name.
| Lays of Melpomene | |