Classic Poem

When youthful hearts are light and true,
And all is fair around us,
The future breaks upon our view
In every bright and pleasing hue —
For Hope's sweet spell hath bound us,
And all seems fair around us.

But ah! too soon we're doom'd to find
The scenes that look'd so charming,
Beset with thorns, with snares intwined,
That Hope is false, and Fortune blind,
And dangers most alarming,
Where all had seem'd so charming.

Yet Hope hath still her pleasing power,
Although she's a deceiver!
And e'en while storms above us lower,
She paints so bright the future hour,
We cannot but believe her —
Although she's a deceiver!

Thus we stray on in quest of joy,
The dupes of Hope forever!
Earth hath no good without alloy,
And sweetest pleasures soonest cloy,
We soonest from them sever —
The dupes of Hope forever!