The more we live, more brief appear Our life's succeeding stages: A day to childhood seems a year, And years like passing ages. The gladsome current of our youth, Ere passion yet disorders, Steals lingering like a river smooth Along its grassy borders. But as the care-worn cheeks grow wan, And sorrow's shafts fly thicker, Ye stars, that measure life to man, Why seem your courses quicker? When joys have lost their bloom and breath And life itself is vapid, Why, as we reach the Falls of Death, Feel we its tide more rapid? It may be strange -- yet who would change Time's course to slower speeding, When one by one our friends have gone And left our bosoms bleeding? Heaven gives our years of fading strength Indemnifying fleetness; And those of youth, a seeming length, Proportion'd to their sweetness. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DE PROFUNDIS by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING TO THE LADIES by MARY LEE CHUDLEIGH HEAVEN by NANCY WOODBURY PRIEST THE HAPPY WARRIOR by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH TO JOSIAH ROYCE by BRENT DOW ALLINSON PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 46. AL-WASI'H by EDWIN ARNOLD |