Classic Poem

Gone are the visions of life's early morning—
Those dreams of delight that illumined my way!
Gone! all are gone! but their memory, returning,
Oft gleams o'er my heart like the sun's setting ray.

Gone are the hopes then so fondly I cherished—
The raptures and joys of my boyhood's bright hours;
The madness, the mirth, and the laughter have perished,
And faded away like the bloom from the flowers.

Gone are the friendships I once prized so dearly;
The loves I once fostered have flown from my sight;
And the music of morning, that once sounded clearly,
Has melted away in the murmur of night.

Dreams of my childhood, oh, why did ye leave me?
Ye were so beauteous, so fresh and so fair!
Why, say, oh why did ye, flitting, deceive me?
Wherefore so transiently fade into air?

Joys, bright and blooming, oh, why have ye vanished,
Leaving no pure ray to gleam through the gloom?
Hopes, rainbow-coloured, oh, why are ye banished,
To bloom not again on this side the tomb?

Fate, thou stern monarch, oh, why didst thou sever
Hearts that in love and affection entwined?
Why didst thou breathe o'er our souls the ‘for ever’
That scattered our raptures and hopes to the wind?

Alas! such is life; amid silence and sorrow
We tread the bleak path of this cold world alone;
We hopefully look for the joys of the morrow.
Ere that morrow has passed its transports have flown!

But why should we murmur? 'Tis useless repining;
We know the high Hand that inflicteth the rod;
And lustrous with love we may see His face shining,
Though we bend 'neath the stroke of a chastening God!