| OH! |
| think not my spirits are always as light
|
| And as free from a pang as they seem to you now
|
| Nor expect that the heart-beaming smile of to-night
|
| Will return with to-morrow to brighten my brow
|
| No: — life is a waste of wearisome hours
|
| Which seldom the rose of enjoyment adorns;
|
| And the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers
|
| Is always the first to be touch’d by the thorns
|
| But send round the bowl, and be happy awhile —
|
| May we never meet worse, in our pilgrimage here
|
| Than the tear that enjoyment may gild with a smile
|
| And the smile that compassion can turn to a tear
|
| The thread of our life would be dark, Heaven knows
|
| If it were not with friendship and love intertwined;
|
| And I care not how soon I may sink to repose
|
| When these blessing shall cease to be dear to my mind
|
| But they who have loved the fondest, the purest
|
| Too often have wept o’er the dream they believed;
|
| And the heart that has slumber’d in friendship securest
|
| Is happy indeed if 'twas never deceived
|
| But send round the bowl; |
| while a relic of truth
|
| Is in man or in woman, this prayer shall be mine, —
|
| That the sunshine of love may illumine our youth
|
| And the moonlight of friendship console our decline |