LEAF.
We all do fade as a leaf.—Isaiah, lxiv. 6.
See the leaves around us falling
Dry and withered to the ground;
Thus to thoughtless mortals calling,
In a sad and solemn sound:
Sons of Adam, once in Eden,
Blighted when like us he fell,
Hear the lecture we are reading,
’Tis, alas! the truth we tell.
Virgins, much, too much presuming
On your boasted white and red,
View us, late in beauty blooming,
Number’d now among the dead.
Sons of honour, fed on praises,
Fluttering high in fancied worth,
Lo! the fickle air, that raises,
Brings us down to parent earth.
Learned sophs, in systems jaded,
Who for new ones daily call,
Cease, at length, by us persuaded,
Ev’ry leaf must have its fall.
Youths, though yet no losses grieve you,
Gay in health and manly grace,
Let not cloudless skies deceive you,
Summer gives to autumn place.
Venerable sires, grown hoary,
Hither turn th’ unwilling eye,
Think, amidst your falling glory,
Autumn tells a winter nigh.
Yearly in our course returning,
Messengers of shortest stay,
Thus we preach, this truth concerning,
“Heaven and Earth shall pass away.”
On the Tree of Life eternal,
Man, let all thy hope be staid,
Which alone, for ever vernal,
Bears a leaf that shall not fade.
Bishop Horne.