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The Fall of the Leaf

And Other Poems. By Charles Bucke ... Fourth Edition
  
  

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I.

Come, ere we quit our Paradise!—The world,
And fickle Fortune,—cruel as they are,—
Will not deny us that. In cities long
We sojourn'd and we wander'd; travell'd oft;
Saw men in various attitudes; and mark'd
How ill they keep their promises; how well
They smile, shake hands, swear friendship, and betray!
With various orders have we mix'd—
From prince to peasant:—from th' aspiring man,
Who earns a scanty pittance at a bust,
Which shall in after-times adorn his name,

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To him, who, rising from the dregs of life,
Has roll'd in chariot to a Chancellor's.
What have we seen in this extended range?
Nothing to charm us from the secret shade!
Then come, I charge;—attend my anxious call.
Life is uncertain; and the joys of life
Still more precarious: I am happy now:
And, therefore, soon shall fall into the net
Ill-fortune spreads for all.—I charge thee, come!
For woe is often an attendant on
Soft hours, sweet smiles—the solace of the soul.