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64
THE AUTUMN OF THE WORLD.
The last wan petals leave the rose,
The latest swallows preen for flight,
The summer's gone where no one knows,
With dead men's love, and spent years' light,
And warm hearts buried out of sight.
The latest swallows preen for flight,
The summer's gone where no one knows,
With dead men's love, and spent years' light,
And warm hearts buried out of sight.
Red roses are the crown of youth;
The warm light falls on lovers' lips;
Laugh, then, and fondle, happy mouth,
But yet, remember, sweet time slips,
Death hurries on with full eclipse!
The warm light falls on lovers' lips;
Laugh, then, and fondle, happy mouth,
But yet, remember, sweet time slips,
Death hurries on with full eclipse!
65
So short, so sad! Oh! let not Death
Find only faded flowers and wine,
When, hungry for the joyous breath
That dreams not of the years' decline,
He lays his cold white mouth to thine!
Find only faded flowers and wine,
When, hungry for the joyous breath
That dreams not of the years' decline,
He lays his cold white mouth to thine!
Cling to the flying hours; and yet
Let one pure hope, one great desire,
Like song on dying lips, be set,
That ere we fall in scattered fire
Our hearts may lift the world's heart higher.
Let one pure hope, one great desire,
Like song on dying lips, be set,
That ere we fall in scattered fire
Our hearts may lift the world's heart higher.
Here in the autumn months of Time,
Before the great new year can break,
Some little way our feet should climb,
Some little mark our words should make
For liberty and manhood's sake!
Before the great new year can break,
Some little way our feet should climb,
Some little mark our words should make
For liberty and manhood's sake!
66
Clear brain and sympathetic heart,
A spirit on flame with love for Man,
Hands swift to labour, slow to part,—
If any good, since time began,
The soul can fashion, such souls can.
A spirit on flame with love for Man,
Hands swift to labour, slow to part,—
If any good, since time began,
The soul can fashion, such souls can.
And so when we are dead and past,
The undying world will some day reach
Its glorious hour of dawn at last,
And we across time's sunken beach
May smile, one moment, each to each.
The undying world will some day reach
Its glorious hour of dawn at last,
And we across time's sunken beach
May smile, one moment, each to each.
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