How like a child is this gay flower, With golden hair and graceful mien, Which comes to brighten many an hour And add a charm to dullest scene!
But soon the golden turns to gray And middle life comes on apace; The gray then hurries on its way, And old age comes to take it’s place.
LIVES AND LEAVES.
Our lives are like the leaves That waken to the sun; Some fall from airy heights Ere Youth has scarce begun;
And some are tempest tost, By an opposing power, And driven blindly on With every passing hour.
Some cling to their support, In darkness and in light, And grow from day to day More perfect, strong, and bright.
God grant that lives and leaves, When sunny days are past, May find, from adverse winds, A resting-place at last.