 | [Boyhood, in] The mirror of life |  |
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BOYHOOD.
Ah! Boyhood! bright Boyhood! how beauteous thou art,When Life's sunny morning dawns clear in thy heart!
When its rose-hues illumine thy joy-dimpled cheek,
And its light, laughing hopes in thy happy eyes speak;
The bark of thy Destiny launched on Life's tide,
Thou spring'st to the helm, full of rapture and pride;
Though storms gather dark in the distance before thee,
Thou seest not—thou hearest not—the blue heaven is o'er thee!
And the murmur of waves, and the sparkle of spray,
Make music, and beauty, and light in thy way;
Or if sometimes a shower steal down to the lea,
The rainbow glows through it—God's promise to thee!
And only by islands of bloom and delight
Thou moorest thy bark at the falling of night.
But heed'st thou, young stranger! those clouds in the west?
They steal between thee and thy haven of rest;
Right onward they come—they are looming more nigh;
They darken—they deepen—they shut out the sky!
Oh! far, far beyond them thy spirit must gaze
For the rainbow of Hope that o'er that tempest plays;
It dawns!—it is glowing—in beauty above;
It is lighted in Heaven—by God's smile of love—
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If, in answer, thy flag, be Christ's banner divine!
Then shrink not—then doubt not—whate'er thy way be,
But firm 'neath that banner sail over Life's sea;
Through shallows of Folly—by breakers of Sin—
Untrammelled—triumphant—thy way thou shalt win;
And when Earth's fading sun lingers low in the west,
While bright beams before thee thy haven of rest,
Unscathed by the storm—thou shalt take in thy sail,
No longer the sport of the wave and the gale;
While God's holy Angel of Death shall be given
To pilot thee in—to the portals of Heaven!
| [Boyhood, in] The mirror of life | |