Autumnal leaves :: :: University of Virginia Library

In morning hours,
Full of flowers,
Our swift boats glide
O'er life's bright tide;
And every time the oars we raise
The falling drops like diamonds blaze.
From earth and sky
Comes melody;
And ev'ry voice
Singeth, “Rejoice!”
While echoes all around prolong
The cadence of that wondrous song.
Above each boat
Bright fairies float,
Mounting on air
To castles there.
The earth is full of glorious things
All tinged with light from rainbow wings.
Dear Friendship's smile,
And Love's sweet wile,
Make Life all bright
With genial light,
And seem to shine with steady ray,
That ne'er can change, or fade away.

201

More slowly glides life's evening boat,
And withered flowers around it float.
The drops fall dark from weary oars,
And dismal fogs shroud all the shores.
Like widowed bird that mourns alone,
Sings Music, in her minor tone,
Of flowers that blossom but to die;
And echoes answer plaintively.
Bright fairies change to limping hags;
Their rainbow wings to dingy rags.
Dark heavy clouds sail through the air,
Where golden castles shone so fair.
Strong hearts grow faint, and young ones old;
Friendships decline, and Love is cold.
Dim twilight changes morn's ideal
To flick'ring shadows, all unreal.
But joy remains, if we have thrown
Fresh flowers to boats around our own.
Though currents part us far and wide,
Sweet perfumes live from flowers that died.
Or if our blossoms formed good seeds,
Such as the growing future needs,
Those little germs perchance may yield
Rich waving crops in Time's ripe fields.

202

Though dark the tide we're drifting o'er,
It brings us near that brighter shore,
Where longing souls at length will know
The use of this world's changing show.
Meanwhile, though sunlight has gone down,
Life's ev'ning wears a starry crown,
Where weary ones, who look above,
May read the letters, “God is love.”