Classic Poem

Oh ! had I nursed, when I was young,
The lessons of my father's tongue,
(The deep laborious thoughts he drew,
From all he saw and others knew,)
I might have been — ah, me!
Thrice sager than I e'er shall be.
For what saith Time?
Alas! he only shews the truth
Of all that I was told in youth!

The thoughts now budding in my brain;
The wisdom I have bought with pain;
The knowledge of life's brevity;
Frail friendship, — false philosophy;
And all that issues out of woe,
Methinks were taught me long ago!
Then what saith Time?
Alas! he but brings back the truth
Of all I heard, (and lost!) in youth.

Truths! — hardly learned, and lately brought
From many a far forgotten scene!
Had I but listened, as I ought,
To your voices, sage, — serene,
Oh! what might I not have been
In the realms of thought!