OH! THIS WORLD OF OURS.
I
Oh! this world of ours,
With the path that leads to death,
With the thinly scatter'd flowers,
And the cold, cold, ice beneath!
And the warm hearts we have met,
But to lose them and to mourn;
And the ever sad regret,
For what can never return!
Oh! this world of shame and sin,
This weary world of ours;
The canker worm is at work within
The fairest of her flowers.
II
Think of earthly treasure
As a thing that cannot last;
Oh! judge of future pleasure
By the false joys of the past;
Thou wilt learn how to disdain
All that mortals covet most,
Slow to grasp what thou may'st gain,
Slow to mourn what thou hast lost.
Oh! this world of shame and sin,
This weary world of ours;
The canker worm is at work within
The fairest of her flowers.
