OUR hopes in youth are like those roseate shadows Cast by the sunlight on the dewy grass When first the fair morn opes her sapphire eyes; They seem gigantic and yet graceful shades, Touched with bright color. As our sun of life Rises towards meridian, less and less Grow the bright tremulous shadows, till at last, In the hot dust and noontide of our day, They glimmer to blank nothingness. Again, That grand climacteric passed, the shadows gleam Bright still, perchance (if our past deeds be pure), -- @3Bright still, but all reversed! Eastward@1 they point, Lengthening and lengthening ever toward the dawn; For hopes have then grown memories, whose strange life Deepens and deepens as the sunset dies. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A VALENTINE TO SHERWOOD ANDERSON by GERTRUDE STEIN ODE ON A DISTANT PROSPECT OF ETON COLLEGE by THOMAS GRAY ON MILTON'S PARADISE LOST by ANDREW MARVELL THE THIRD OF FEBRUARY, 1852 by ALFRED TENNYSON THE MORAL FABLES: THE TRIAL OF THE FOX by AESOP PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 10. AL-JABBAR by EDWIN ARNOLD THE INVITATION by JAMES BARCLAY |