 | Morning Glories : |  |
THE BIRTH OF TIME.
Happy moments tell me, pray,
Where were you on yesterday?
While I sit, bowed low with sorrow,
Tell me where you'll be to-morrow.
Where were you on yesterday?
While I sit, bowed low with sorrow,
Tell me where you'll be to-morrow.
Come you from a heavenly clime,
Linger with me all the time;
Every day will then be bright,
Every burden then seem light.
Linger with me all the time;
Every day will then be bright,
Every burden then seem light.
Are you slumbering with the flowers,
While I have my darkest hours?
I am sure it would be pleasant
If I found you ever present.
While I have my darkest hours?
I am sure it would be pleasant
If I found you ever present.
Happy moments seemed to say:
“I am busy all the day;
Every hour I well must fill,
So I never can be still.
“I am busy all the day;
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So I never can be still.
You, my friend, would happier be,
If you busy kept like me;
Then your joys would seem the sweeter,
And your dark hours would seem fleeter.
If you busy kept like me;
Then your joys would seem the sweeter,
And your dark hours would seem fleeter.
More of joy and less of grief,
All your days of labor brief,
If the moments you improve,
By some little deed of love.
All your days of labor brief,
If the moments you improve,
By some little deed of love.
All the earth is full of beauty,
Where we live and do our duty;
Then your sun will seem the brighter,
And your heavy heart grow lighter.
Where we live and do our duty;
Then your sun will seem the brighter,
And your heavy heart grow lighter.
May I ask you, idle one,
To recount the good you've done,
To deserve the joys you've tasted—
Now account for time you've wasted.”
To recount the good you've done,
To deserve the joys you've tasted—
Now account for time you've wasted.”
Then I felt a sudden start,
And the impulse of my heart
Was, that I must work to-day;
For the moments haste away.
And the impulse of my heart
Was, that I must work to-day;
For the moments haste away.
Little moments, will you wait
While your wings with prayer I freight;
So when I drop out of time,
I may see God's smile divine?
While your wings with prayer I freight;
So when I drop out of time,
I may see God's smile divine?
I could not a moment borrow,
For to-day is gone to-morrow;
And to-morrow is “to-day,”
So the debt I could not pay.
For to-day is gone to-morrow;
And to-morrow is “to-day,”
So the debt I could not pay.
Tell me moments: whence your birth,
Whence your coming to the earth?
Was your birthplace 'mid the flowers,
Or in cloudlets, fleece-like bowers?
Whence your coming to the earth?
Was your birthplace 'mid the flowers,
Or in cloudlets, fleece-like bowers?
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Then the answer quickly came
Like a chipped-off lightning flame:
“When the great Creator flung
Out the world, on nothing hung,
Then was I destined to be,
‘Time’ until Eternity.”
Like a chipped-off lightning flame:
“When the great Creator flung
Out the world, on nothing hung,
Then was I destined to be,
‘Time’ until Eternity.”
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