Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems by the late Thomas Haynes Bayly; Edited by his Widow. With A Memoir of the Author. In Two Volumes |
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| II. |
 | Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems |  |
71
YOUTH'S BOSOM, WHEN JOY FLOURISHES.
I
Youth's bosom, when joy flourishes,Feels as if it were made for him;
In the visions his heart nourishes
Nothing is dark or dim:
The only sounds he loves to hear
Are those which fill the soul with bliss;
Whilst smiling friends surround him here,
No world can equal this,
Thus wandering, still endeavouring
Never to think that mortals die,
Death seems like a blight, severing
Every human tie.
II
When one whom he lov'd perishes,Former joys from his grasp are hurl'd;
Then the sorrowing heart cherishes
Thoughts of a purer world;
And pleasure loses all the spells
Which dazzle youth's delighted eye,
Whilst all he looks on sadly tells
Of pleasure long gone by.
No more we view death fearfully,
But like a path where danger lies,
When friends seek it we move cheerfully,
Following all we prize.
III
Where then are the tints hoveringOver the path of early years?
Where then is the veil covering
Sorrows and fruitless tears?
72
The shades that end our childish mirth;
The veil is gone—and we perceive
The checquered scenes of earth.
Oh! when from the heart chillingly
Fall the blossoms of hope and love,
Then it shrinks from the world, willingly
Soaring to hopes above.
| Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems | |