 | Poems by Elizabeth Akers (Florence Percy) |  |
216
THE WAY TO YOUTH.
When Grace and Beauty are left behind,
And Time and Change are no longer kind,
And hands wax nerveless, and eyes grow blind,
How sweet and pleasant it is to find
The way to Immortal Youth!
And Time and Change are no longer kind,
And hands wax nerveless, and eyes grow blind,
How sweet and pleasant it is to find
The way to Immortal Youth!
O, how blessed to fling away
These tell-tale symbols of dull decay,—
The hair which barters its gold for gray,
The limbs which falter from day to day,—
And follow the way to Youth!
These tell-tale symbols of dull decay,—
The hair which barters its gold for gray,
The limbs which falter from day to day,—
And follow the way to Youth!
Travelled by many, and trodden well,—
Quiet, and bordered with asphodel;
And at the ending,—ah, who may tell
The happy story of those who dwell
In perfect and deathless Youth?
Quiet, and bordered with asphodel;
And at the ending,—ah, who may tell
The happy story of those who dwell
In perfect and deathless Youth?
Their faded faces grow young and fair,—
The smile returns that they used to wear;
Their brows remember no line of care,
And the gold comes back to their brightened hair,
In the realm of deathless Youth.
The smile returns that they used to wear;
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And the gold comes back to their brightened hair,
In the realm of deathless Youth.
The door is narrow,—the arch is low,
And up to the keystone the violets grow,
And the dead leaves drift, and the snow-falls blow;—
But little they heed or care, who go
In search of Immortal Youth.
And up to the keystone the violets grow,
And the dead leaves drift, and the snow-falls blow;—
But little they heed or care, who go
In search of Immortal Youth.
No sentinel guards it with stern command,
But under its shadow the angels stand
Waiting to clasp the pilgrim's hand,
And lead him into the Morning Land,
The Land of Immortal Youth.
But under its shadow the angels stand
Waiting to clasp the pilgrim's hand,
And lead him into the Morning Land,
The Land of Immortal Youth.
| Poems by Elizabeth Akers (Florence Percy) | |