Classic Poem

I.

 H OUR after hour,
  Day after day,
 Some gentle flower
  Or leaf gives way
 Within the bower
  Of human hearts;—
 Tear after tear
  In anguish starts,
 For, green or sere,
  Some loved leaf parts
 From the arbère
  Of human hearts;
 The keen winds blow:
 Rain, hail and snow
  Fall everywhere!
 And one by one,
 As life's sands run,
  These loved things fare
Till plundered hearts at last are won,
  To woo despair.

II.

 Why linger on,
  Fate's mockery here,
 When each is gone,
  Heart-loved, heart-dear?
 Stone spells to stone
  Its weary tale,
 How graves were filled,
  How cheeks waxed pale,
 How hearts were chilled
  With biting gale,
 And life's strings thrilled
  With sorrow's wail.
 Flower follows flower
 In the heart's bower,
  To fleet away;
 While leaf on leaf,
 Sharp grief on grief,—
  Night chasing day,
Tell as they fall, all joy is brief,
  Life but decay.

III.

 The sea-weed thrown
  By wave or wind,
 On strand unknown,
  Lone grave to find;
 Methinks may own,
  Of kindred more
 Than I dare claim
  On life's bleak shore.
 Name follows name
  For evermore,
 As swift waves shame
  Slow waves before;—
 For keen winds blow;
 Rain, hail, and snow
  Fall everywhere,
 Till life's sad tree,
 In mockery,
  Skeletoned bare.
Of every leaf, is left to be
 Mate of despair.

IV.

 The world is wide,
  Is rich and fair,
 Its things of pride
  Flaunt everywhere;
 But can it hide
  Its hollowness,
 One mighty shell
  Of bitterness,
 One grand farewell
  To happiness,
 One solemn knell
  To love's caress,
 It seems to me.
 The shipless sea
  Hath bravery more
 Than this waste scene,
 Where what hath been
  Beloved of yore,
In the heart's bower so fresh and green,
  Fades evermore!

V.

 From all its kind,
  This wasted heart—
 This moody mind
  Now drifts apart;
 It longs to find
  The tideless shore,
 Where rests the wreck
  Of Heretofore,—
 The glorious wreck
  Of mental ore;
 The great heartbreak
  Of loves no more.
 I drift alone,
 For all are gone
  Dearest to me;
 And hail the wave
 That to the grave
  On hurrieth me:
Welcome, thrice welcome, then, thy wave,
  Eternity!