Classic Poem

More than three lustres since the sportive scroll
Retraced fair Julia now at thy command,
Avouched the honest homage of a soul
That held thee sovereign of its fairy land.

Since then the summer-days of life have flown
And years like ages seared my heart and brow,
Yet underneath their ashes still is strewn
More of the past than words shall e'er avow.

All hopes, all thoughts, save of a few fond days
Hallowed by innocence, by friendship cheered,
Whose sole memorials are those careless lays—
All else have perished—even the most endeared.

These too ere long must perish!—be it so:
Love, Friendship, Hope, Ambition, all have fled—
Then why should Memory linger?—To bestow
Flowers on the false—the changed, the lost, the dead?