Poems and Songs by E. H. B. [i.e. E. H. Bickersteth] | ||
91
IMPROMPTU
ON SOME LILIES THAT WERE CRUSHED AND WITHERED BEFORE EVENING.
I
Flowers of the spring-tide!—sweet lilies,—ye bringMemories whose shadows around me cling;
Breathings of Eden so vivid, so true,
Oh! hours that were tinged with thy virgin hue.
II
Flowers of the springtide! why ask ye a tear?Mark ye the sorrows of life's short career?
Must your frail beauty but serve to recall
The darkness which dwells 'neath the funeral pall?
III
Flowers of the springtide!—sweet lilies,—your bloomIs but as a type of man's early doom;
Lo! in the morning your beams are of light,
How trodden—how withered—ere yet it is night!
Poems and Songs by E. H. B. [i.e. E. H. Bickersteth] | ||