EVIL DAYS.
O Youth, O Hope, O Love, all phantoms vain!
Ye lured me long with promise false as sweet,
But now your flight outstrips my faltering feet.
Dear traitors, will ye ne’er return again?
Love lingered last, but all have been too fleet.
Now sinks the light of day in tears and pain,
The glories of the night unheeded wane:
Summer is winter, truth is but deceit.
Shall I not find upon some vernal day,
Fruition for the buds that blighted here?
The golden hours of youth I cast away,
How I would hold those wasted treasures dear!
Still through the lonely chambers of my brain
No more, no more, echoes the sad refrain.