Above each boat
Bright fairies float,
Mounting on air
To castles there.
The earth is full of glorious things
All tinged with light from rainbow wings.
Dear Friendship’s smile,
And Love’s sweet wile,
Make Life all bright
With genial light,
And seem to shine with steady ray,
That ne’er can change, or fade away.
* * * * *
More slowly glides life’s evening boat,
And withered flowers around it float.
The drops fall dark from weary oars,
And dismal fogs shroud all the shores.
Like widowed bird that mourns alone,
Sings Music, in her minor tone,
Of flowers that blossom but to die;
And echoes answer plaintively.
Bright fairies change to limping hags;
Their rainbow wings to dingy rags.
Dark heavy clouds sail through the air,
Where golden castles shone so fair.
Strong hearts grow faint, and young ones old;
Friendships decline, and Love is cold.
Dim twilight changes morn’s ideal
To flick’ring shadows, all unreal.
But joy remains, if we have thrown
Fresh flowers to boats around our own.
Though currents part us far and wide,
Sweet perfumes live from flowers that died.
Or if our blossoms formed good seeds,
Such as the growing future needs,
Those little germs perchance may yield
Rich waving crops in Time’s ripe fields.
Though dark the tide we’re drifting o’er,
It brings us near that brighter shore,
Where longing souls at length will know
The use of this world’s changing show.