LIFE grows better every day, If we live in deed and truth; So I am not used to grieve For the vanished joys of youth. For though early hopes may die, Early dreams be rudely crossed; Of the past we still can keep Treasures more than we have lost. For if we but try to gain Life's best good, and hold it fast, We grow very rich in love Ere our mortal days are past. Rich in golden stores of thought, Hopes that give us wealth untold; Rich in all sweet memories, That grow dearer, growing old. For when we have lived and loved, Tasted suffering and bliss, All the common things of life Have been sanctified by this. What my eyes behold to-day Of this good world is not all, Earth and sky are crowded full Of the beauties they recall. When I watch the sunset now, As its glories change and glow, I can see the light of suns That were faded long ago. When I look up to the stars, I find burning overhead All the stars that ever shone In the nights that now are dead. And a loving, tender word, Dropping from the lips of truth, Brings each dear remembered tone Echoing backward from my youth. When I meet a human face, Lit for me with light divine, I recall all loving eyes That have ever answered mine. Therefore, they who were my friends Never can be changed or old; For the beauty of their youth Fond remembrance well can hold. And even they whose feet here crossed O'er the noiseless, calm abyss, To the better shore which seemed Once so far away from this; Are to me as dwelling now Just across a pleasant stream, Over which they come and go, As we journey in a dream. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BANKS O' DOON by ROBERT BURNS THE TRIUMPH OF TIME by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE EXTEMPORE EFFUSION UPON THE DEATH OF JAMES HOGG by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH SONNET by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH INVITED GUESTS by FRANCES EKIN ALLISON OF BENEVOLENCE: AN EPISTLE TO EUMENES by JOHN ARMSTRONG ORA PRO NOBIS by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH |