 | Lines in Pleasant Places |  |
281
THE SKATERS.
I hear the sound of boyish laughter break
In joyous cadence on the crispy air,
Where in the sunshine gleams the burnished lake,
On whose bright surface skaters, here and there,
Their varied daring evolutions make;
While Fun holds carnival with unction rare,
And hearts untrammelled sweet enjoyment share
In joyous cadence on the crispy air,
Where in the sunshine gleams the burnished lake,
On whose bright surface skaters, here and there,
Their varied daring evolutions make;
While Fun holds carnival with unction rare,
And hearts untrammelled sweet enjoyment share
Like birds they cleave the air with graceful pose,
In self-abandon, by excitement led,
And feats of bravest merit they disclose;
We watch admiringly the rimy thread
That follows in the track by which each goes,—
A record, by the skater to be read,
Of steady nerve and most artistic tread.
In self-abandon, by excitement led,
And feats of bravest merit they disclose;
We watch admiringly the rimy thread
That follows in the track by which each goes,—
A record, by the skater to be read,
Of steady nerve and most artistic tread.
O youth! what passion in a scene like this,
With every manly attribute aglow!
Through bold endeavor is the way to bliss,
That but triumphant excellence may know;
Yet grasping, for the nonce, success, I wis,
Is what few here in after life will show,
Where boyhood's promise dies too oft 'neath manhood's snow.
With every manly attribute aglow!
Through bold endeavor is the way to bliss,
That but triumphant excellence may know;
Yet grasping, for the nonce, success, I wis,
Is what few here in after life will show,
Where boyhood's promise dies too oft 'neath manhood's snow.
282
The spirit lives; but though we keenly feel
The animation of the passing scene,
And see old joys in these anew reveal,
Forgetting all the lapse of time between,
Our ear accordant with the ringing steel
That carves in monograms the crystal sheen,
We scarce could do the deeds we then achieved, I ween.
The animation of the passing scene,
And see old joys in these anew reveal,
Forgetting all the lapse of time between,
Our ear accordant with the ringing steel
That carves in monograms the crystal sheen,
We scarce could do the deeds we then achieved, I ween.
And thus we stand in contemplation lost,
Watching and feeling all the waves of fun,
Just as the genius of the last year's frost
Might look on bud and bloom next spring-time's sun;
Or like some veteran soldier, battle-tost,
Who from its bracket takes his ancient gun,
And talks of strife and wounds, and tells how fields were won.
Watching and feeling all the waves of fun,
Just as the genius of the last year's frost
Might look on bud and bloom next spring-time's sun;
Or like some veteran soldier, battle-tost,
Who from its bracket takes his ancient gun,
And talks of strife and wounds, and tells how fields were won.
| Lines in Pleasant Places | |