 | Miscellaneous Poems |  |
289
May flowers
Sweet Babes, dress'd out in flowers of May,
And fair and innocent as they;
A lovely type in them we see
Of what you are, and what must be.
Like them you rise, like them you bloom,
Like them you hasten to the tomb.
Ye human flowers, smile on, smile on!
Your hours of bliss will soon be gone.
And fair and innocent as they;
A lovely type in them we see
Of what you are, and what must be.
Like them you rise, like them you bloom,
Like them you hasten to the tomb.
Ye human flowers, smile on, smile on!
Your hours of bliss will soon be gone.
Soon manhood with its cares and crimes
Shall cloud these early sunny times,
And call you from your sports and flowers
To passions and pursuits like ours.
And what are all that men pursue
But flowrets, gather'd flowrets, too?
Howe'er they tempt, howe'er they please,
More fleeting and less fair than these.
Shall cloud these early sunny times,
And call you from your sports and flowers
To passions and pursuits like ours.
290
But flowrets, gather'd flowrets, too?
Howe'er they tempt, howe'er they please,
More fleeting and less fair than these.
Enjoyments, honours, talents, sway,
Wealth, beauty, all must pass away;
A cloud must come across their sky,
A frost but nips them, and they die.
One flower alone, when all are gone,
Shall bloom for aye unfading on—
'Tis Grace—the treasure seek and prize;
It grows to Glory in the skies.
Wealth, beauty, all must pass away;
A cloud must come across their sky,
A frost but nips them, and they die.
One flower alone, when all are gone,
Shall bloom for aye unfading on—
'Tis Grace—the treasure seek and prize;
It grows to Glory in the skies.
1817.
| Miscellaneous Poems | |