 | [Poems by Cary in] The poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary |  |
LOOKING BACK.
I have been looking back to-day
Upon life's April promise hours,
Its June is with me now, but May
Left all her blushes in the flowers.
Upon life's April promise hours,
Its June is with me now, but May
Left all her blushes in the flowers.
A still and sober gladness reigns
Where there was hopeful mirth, erewhile—
Hardly the soul its wisdom gains—
Through suffering we learn to smile.
Where there was hopeful mirth, erewhile—
Hardly the soul its wisdom gains—
Through suffering we learn to smile.
The heart that went out beating wild
With visions of the bliss to be,
Has come back weary, like a child
That sits beside the mother's knee.
With visions of the bliss to be,
Has come back weary, like a child
That sits beside the mother's knee.
The vision of a coming bliss—
A bliss from earth that never springs—
In youth was but the chrysalis
That time has glorified with wings.
A bliss from earth that never springs—
In youth was but the chrysalis
That time has glorified with wings.
And if I see no longer here
The splendor of a transient good,
A cloud has left my atmosphere,
And heaven is shining where it stood.
The splendor of a transient good,
A cloud has left my atmosphere,
And heaven is shining where it stood.
| [Poems by Cary in] The poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary | |