Poems on various subjects :: :: University of Virginia Library

Faint and sad thro' the mist on the grove's sickly hue
The pale sun diffuses a sorrowful day,
A deep boding silence pervades the dim view,
And light feathery clouds the dull heavens array.

The hedge-rows deserted are mournfully still,
Where a few yellow leaves linger drooping and sear:
The feeble grass bends o'er the slow-winding rill,
And each conscious scene mourns the pale close of the year.

So droop all the objects' that once we admired,
So timelessly fades life's inconsequent day,
Those objects that lately so sweetly inspired,
As the glories of Nature shall vanish away.

Those friendships, those loves, those emotions so dear,
That thrill the young mind, and mysteriously bless,
On the wing of cold time shall soon disappear,
And leave us the gloom of inactive distress.

The rude touch of Art numbs the springs of the soul,
And checks the vibration of Sympathy's breast,
Our early affections, exempt from controul,
How soon shall cold Apathy's influence arrest.

Then observe the drear view and contemplate thy doom,
Observe its dim gloom, and dismiss every tie,
Tho' now in Youth's summer some pleasures may bloom,
Remember that Age, and that Winter are nigh.