 | Lays of Leisure Hours |  |
177
OH! HOURS OF THE PAST!
Oh! hours of the Past, chained together with flowers,
And lit on your way by the heavenliest of rays—
Where, where are ye now with your gifts and your powers,
Dear hours of departed and exquisite days?
And lit on your way by the heavenliest of rays—
Where, where are ye now with your gifts and your powers,
Dear hours of departed and exquisite days?
Can it be ye are gone and for ever?—no more
Must I gladden my Soul with your blameless delights?
Ye bright waves! ye have flung on a desolate shore,
The heart that once mocked at Fate's blasts and her blights.
Must I gladden my Soul with your blameless delights?
Ye bright waves! ye have flung on a desolate shore,
The heart that once mocked at Fate's blasts and her blights.
What mirth and what music were crowning those hours,
What glory and gladness still played o'er their path,
'Twas the precipice veiled by Joy's false fairy bowers,
And thy meteors Hope! smiled o'er the pitfalls of wrath!
What glory and gladness still played o'er their path,
'Twas the precipice veiled by Joy's false fairy bowers,
And thy meteors Hope! smiled o'er the pitfalls of wrath!
178
Oh! ye hours of delight!—ye but woke in my heart
All its warmest of feelings, and wildest of powers,
All its truth and its love—then like dreams to depart,
And to leave but the serpent that lurked'mongst the flowers.
All its warmest of feelings, and wildest of powers,
All its truth and its love—then like dreams to depart,
And to leave but the serpent that lurked'mongst the flowers.
Yet 'tis well since ye were thus to part and to fly,
That ye parted thus swiftly and vanished thus soon,
Ere ye taught me to heave yet a bitterer sigh—
Ere the Morn's dawning passions had deepened with Noon!
That ye parted thus swiftly and vanished thus soon,
Ere ye taught me to heave yet a bitterer sigh—
Ere the Morn's dawning passions had deepened with Noon!
| Lays of Leisure Hours | |