 | Lays of Leisure Hours |  |
66
A FEW MORE HOURS.
A few more hours to Memory and regret,
Then for a heavy Sacrifice of Years
To the cold cares by which we toil, beset,
In this low vale of troubles and of tears!
Then for a heavy Sacrifice of Years
To the cold cares by which we toil, beset,
In this low vale of troubles and of tears!
A few more hours unto the heart—the heart!
Then for a life given up to other things,
Whence dreams and hopes and memories must depart,
Though round them coil the heart's entwining strings!
Then for a life given up to other things,
Whence dreams and hopes and memories must depart,
Though round them coil the heart's entwining strings!
A few more hours to Passion and its pain,
Then live-long days to Life's more studied part,
Then back to harsh Reality again—
Back to that World which stings, then steels the heart.
Then live-long days to Life's more studied part,
Then back to harsh Reality again—
Back to that World which stings, then steels the heart.
67
A few more hours to Feeling and to thee,
Then an Eternity of hours to all
That is most tedious in monotony,
Most wearying in its dull and withering thrall.
Then an Eternity of hours to all
That is most tedious in monotony,
Most wearying in its dull and withering thrall.
A few more hours to thought and love and thee,
The rest unto the World's cold common claim!—
To dull Indifference' icy Slavery—
Which they, the loveless many, Freedom name!
The rest unto the World's cold common claim!—
To dull Indifference' icy Slavery—
Which they, the loveless many, Freedom name!
| Lays of Leisure Hours | |