There were times when the joy in his heart overran
At a smile from one who knew him in truth;
There were times, years later, when merely a tear
From a grateful eye
Would have seem’d more dear
Than all the glitter that gold could buy;
But, alas! in age, when character stands
As fix’d as yon monument, then it demands,
Ere aught can move it, far more, far more
Than the cheer or the sigh that had stirr’d it of yore.