 | The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery |  |
STANZAS.
[The hour is past, the pleasure o'er]
“The flower that smiles to-day,
To-morrow dies;
All that we wish to stay,
Tempts and then flies:
What is this world's delight?”
To-morrow dies;
All that we wish to stay,
Tempts and then flies:
What is this world's delight?”
The hour is past, the pleasure o'er,
And dumb the heart of glee;
Young feet no longer trip the floor
Alive with melody.
And dumb the heart of glee;
Young feet no longer trip the floor
Alive with melody.
Those fairy brows, those forms of love
That wake the dreamer's sigh,
Like Shapes who leave their bowers above
To charm a human eye:
That wake the dreamer's sigh,
Like Shapes who leave their bowers above
To charm a human eye:
All, all are gone! the lights have fled
From yon deserted room;
Dim as a chamber of the dead
And voiceless as the tomb:
From yon deserted room;
Dim as a chamber of the dead
And voiceless as the tomb:
And now I am alone again,
With feelings undefined;
A pilgrim in a world of pain,
An unpartaken Mind.
With feelings undefined;
A pilgrim in a world of pain,
An unpartaken Mind.
The silent walk, the sickly moon,
And melancholy sky
Unite to make me feel how soon
These hours of beauty fly.
And melancholy sky
Unite to make me feel how soon
These hours of beauty fly.
Oh, pleasure! brief as bright thou art,
A momentary ray,
A dream roll'd o'er a vacant heart
To charm, and melt away!
A momentary ray,
A dream roll'd o'er a vacant heart
To charm, and melt away!
June, 1828.
| The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery | |