Ballads for the Times (Now first collected,) Geraldine, A Modern Pyramid, Bartenus, A Thousand Lines, and other poems. By Martin F. Tupper. A new Edition, enlarged and revised |
 |
 | Ballads for the Times |  |
33
Low Spirits.
It is not Time,—I joy to see
My children growing up;
It is not Sin,—remorse for me
Holds out no bitter cup;
Nor doth Mammon's dreary din
Add its gloom to Time or Sin.
My children growing up;
It is not Sin,—remorse for me
Holds out no bitter cup;
Nor doth Mammon's dreary din
Add its gloom to Time or Sin.
It is not that the Past was sweet,—
Many griefs were there;
It is not that the Future's feet
Are shrouded up in care;
Providence is wise and kind,
And I am strong for heart and mind.
Many griefs were there;
It is not that the Future's feet
Are shrouded up in care;
Providence is wise and kind,
And I am strong for heart and mind.
Why then be sad? why thus, my heart,
Disquieted within?
Great is the mercy that thou art
Unseared by care and sin;
That Time to thee has small alloy,
And memory's thoughts are thoughts of joy.
Disquieted within?
Great is the mercy that thou art
Unseared by care and sin;
That Time to thee has small alloy,
And memory's thoughts are thoughts of joy.
Why then so sad?—My friends of old
Are dead and gone, or changed;
The poor dear nest of home is cold,
And each old haunt estranged;
So that I walk a stranger there,
With none to feel for how I fare!
Are dead and gone, or changed;
The poor dear nest of home is cold,
And each old haunt estranged;
So that I walk a stranger there,
With none to feel for how I fare!
34
True,—many new found friends may throng,
And make a passing show;
But ever as they stream along
Like dreams they come and go,—
And,—however kind they be,
They bring not back the Past to me!
And make a passing show;
But ever as they stream along
Like dreams they come and go,—
And,—however kind they be,
They bring not back the Past to me!
| Ballads for the Times | |