 | Songs and ballads by Samuel Lover |  |
THE CHILD AND AUTUMN LEAF.
Down by the river's bank I stray'd
Upon an autumn day;
Beside the fading forest there,
I saw a child at play.
She play'd among the yellow leaves—
The leaves that once were green,
And flung upon the passing stream,
What once had blooming been:
Oh! deeply did it touch my heart
To see that child at play;
It was the sweet unconscious sport
Of childhood with decay.
Upon an autumn day;
Beside the fading forest there,
I saw a child at play.
She play'd among the yellow leaves—
The leaves that once were green,
And flung upon the passing stream,
What once had blooming been:
Oh! deeply did it touch my heart
To see that child at play;
It was the sweet unconscious sport
Of childhood with decay.
Fair child, if by this stream you stray,
When after years go by,
The scene that makes thy childhood's sport,
May wake thy age's sigh:
When fast you see around you fall
The summer's leafy pride,
And mark the river hurrying on
It's ne'er-returning tide;
Then may you feel, in pensive mood,
That life's a summer dream;
And man, at last, forgotten falls—
A leaf upon the stream.
When after years go by,
The scene that makes thy childhood's sport,
May wake thy age's sigh:
When fast you see around you fall
The summer's leafy pride,
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It's ne'er-returning tide;
Then may you feel, in pensive mood,
That life's a summer dream;
And man, at last, forgotten falls—
A leaf upon the stream.
| Songs and ballads by Samuel Lover | |