The Stream that Hurries by.
An Unpublished Poem By the Author of “ The Collegians.”
I.
The stream that hurries by yon fixed shore1
Returns no more ;2
The wind that dries at morn yon dewy lawn3
Breathes, and is gone ;4
Those wither’d flow’rs to summer’s ripening glow5
No more shall blow ;6
Those fallen leaves that strew yon garden bed7
For aye are dead.8
II.
Of laugh, of jest, of mirth, of pleasure past,9
Nothing shall
last ;10
On shore, on sea, on hill, on vale, on plain,11
Nought shall remain ;12
Of all for which poor mortals vainly mourn,13
Nought shall return ;14
Life hath his hour in heay’n and earth beneath,15
And so hath Death.16
III.
Not all the chains that clank in eastern clime17
Can fetter Time ;18
For all the phials in the doctor’s store19
Youth comes no more ;20
No drug on Age’s wrinkled cheek renews21
Life’s early hues ;22
Not all the tears by pious mourners shed23
Can wake the dead.24
IV.
For all Spring gives, and Winter takes again,25
We grieve in vain ;26
Vainly for sunshine fled, and joys gone by,27
We heave the sigh ;28
On, ever on, with unexhausted breath,29
Time hastes to Death :30
Even with each word we speak, a moment flies,31
Is born, and dies.32
V.
If thus, through lesser Nature’s empire wide33
Nothing abide,—34
If wind, and wave, and leaf, and sun, and flow’r,35
Have each their hour,—36
He walks on ice whose dallying spirit clings37
To earthly things ;38
And he alone is wise whose well-taught love39
Is fix’d above.40
VI.
Truths firm as bright, but oft to mortal ear41
Chilling and drear,42
Harsh as the raven’s croak the sounds that tell43
Of pleasure’s knell ;44
Pray, reader, that at least the minstrel’s strain45
Not all be vain ;46
And when thou bend’st to God the suppliant knee,47
Remember me !48