 | [Poems by Payne in] John Howard Payne ... his life and writings |  |
318
A BIRTHDAY SONG.
WRITTEN FOR DR. DRAKE FOR A BIRTHDAY PARTY.
Oh! speed the light hours!
With fancy's gay flowers
Life's dearest socialities gracefully wreathe!
Let the shadows of care
Meet like mists in the air,
While the warmth of thy sweetest kisses we breathe.
With fancy's gay flowers
Life's dearest socialities gracefully wreathe!
Let the shadows of care
Meet like mists in the air,
While the warmth of thy sweetest kisses we breathe.
Oh! fill not the bowl!
'Tis the wine of the soul
That must gladden the spirits that mingle to-night:
Let it sparkle and dance
Like the dazzling expanse
Of the wave when the sunbeam has clothed it in light.
'Tis the wine of the soul
That must gladden the spirits that mingle to-night:
Let it sparkle and dance
Like the dazzling expanse
Of the wave when the sunbeam has clothed it in light.
Oh! spread not the board
From luxury's hoard:
'Tis the pure feast of feeling we gather to share,—
Ambrosia of Heaven
Free, bounteously given,—
The East cannot furnish a banquet so fair.
From luxury's hoard:
'Tis the pure feast of feeling we gather to share,—
Ambrosia of Heaven
Free, bounteously given,—
The East cannot furnish a banquet so fair.
Oh! cold is the heart
That would scorn to impart
Its brightness and glow to the hours as they glide:
Then hasten to weave
Sweet garlands; they'll leave
A beam, as we float, on Time's cold, ebbless tide.
That would scorn to impart
Its brightness and glow to the hours as they glide:
Then hasten to weave
Sweet garlands; they'll leave
A beam, as we float, on Time's cold, ebbless tide.
| [Poems by Payne in] John Howard Payne ... his life and writings | |