The present, only, is ours;
We cannot recall the past
Song’s and sunshine and flowers,
Are pleasant, but do they last?
The dollar we earn to-day,
Is more than a million spent;
The one has vanished away,
The other may bring content.
A loving word, like the dew
To the rose, revives the heart.
A blessing awaits the true;
Feeling is higher than art.
The present improved is bliss,
The bliss that fore’er abides;
In a fairer world than this,
Where never an ill betides.
BE FAITHFUL.
Be faithful soldiers, fearing not,
What traitors may disclose;
There is a purpose in our lot
More powerful than foes.
If we could once peruse life’s page,
[A blurred and blotted scroll,]
The failures would our thought engage
Though fled beyond control.
If we could once life’s page peruse,
Each loss returned, a gain,
Would give such wisdom as accrues
From knowledge, bought of pain.
We never know what we can do;
The problems none attempt
Now lying open to our view,
Have meanings little dreamt.