 | The Poetical Works of Robert Story |  |
37
Another Year.
1824.
Another year, another year,
O! who shall see another year?
—Shalt thou, old man of hoary head,
Of eye-sight dim, and feeble tread?
Expect it not! Time, pain, and grief
Have made thee like an autumn-leaf,
Ready, by blast or self-decay,
From its slight hold to drop away—
And some sad Morn may gild thy bier
Long, long before another year!
O! who shall see another year?
—Shalt thou, old man of hoary head,
Of eye-sight dim, and feeble tread?
Expect it not! Time, pain, and grief
Have made thee like an autumn-leaf,
Ready, by blast or self-decay,
From its slight hold to drop away—
And some sad Morn may gild thy bier
Long, long before another year!
Another year, another year,
O! who shall see another year?
—Shall you, ye young? or you, ye fair?
Ah! the presumptuous thought forbear!
Within this church yard's peaceful bounds—
Come, pause and ponder o'er the mounds!
Here Beauty sleeps—that verdant length
Of grave contains what once was Strength—
The child—the boy—the man are here:
Ye may not see another year!
O! who shall see another year?
—Shall you, ye young? or you, ye fair?
Ah! the presumptuous thought forbear!
Within this church yard's peaceful bounds—
Come, pause and ponder o'er the mounds!
Here Beauty sleeps—that verdant length
Of grave contains what once was Strength—
The child—the boy—the man are here:
Ye may not see another year!
Another year, another year,
O! who shall see another year?
—Shall I, whose burning thirst of fame
No earthly power can quench or tame?
Alas! that burning thirst may soon
Be o'er, and all beneath the moon—
All my fine visions, fancy-wrought,
And all this vortex-whirl of thought
For ever cease and disappear,
Ere dawns on earth another year!
O! who shall see another year?
—Shall I, whose burning thirst of fame
No earthly power can quench or tame?
Alas! that burning thirst may soon
Be o'er, and all beneath the moon—
38
And all this vortex-whirl of thought
For ever cease and disappear,
Ere dawns on earth another year!
| The Poetical Works of Robert Story | |