Classic Poem

WRITTEN AT FOURTEEN YEARS OF AGE .

How quickly fades the vital flow'r!
Alas, my friend! each silent hour
Steals unperceiv'd away:
The early joys of blooming youth,
Sweet innocence, and dove-eyed truth,
Are destin'd to decay.

Can zeal, drear Pluto's wrath restrain?
No; though an hourly victim stain
His hallow'd shrine with blood,
Fate will recal her doom for none;
The sceptred king must leave his throne,
To pass the Stygian flood.

In vain, my Parnell, wrapt in ease,
We shun the merchant marring seas;
In vain we fly from wars;
In vain we shun the' autumnal blast;
(The slow Cocytus must be pass'd)
How needless are our cares!

Our house, our land, our shadowy grove,
The very mistress of our love,
Ah me, we soon must leave!
Of all our trees, the hated boughs
Of cypress shall alone diffuse
Their fragrance o'er our grave.

To others shall we then resign
The numerous casks of sparkling wine,
Which, frugal, now we store?
With them a more deserving heir,
(Is this our labour, this our care?)
Shall stain the stucco floor.