BY PAST TIMES. 57 BY-PAST TIMES. THE sky is blue, the sward is green, I think on childhood's glowing years- Alas! the world at distance seen A rocky waste, a thorny ground! We then revert to youth; but when ANON. 58 TO A FRIEND. TO A FRIEND, APRIL 16. WITH garlands of primroses crowned, And smiling through eloquent tears-- Sweet April returning appears: Though showers have darkened her changeable sky, To me she is fairer than blooming July. For sparkling with sunbeams I see, In April's fair retinue here, The loveliest day in the year: And soft gratulations shall ever ascend, But what to that morning I owe, Which dawned on my infantile state What blessings it came to bestow What light it has shed on my fate What sweet it has yielded, what balm for distress; I ask not the language of song to express. Hope, joy, consolation and peace, That day on my infancy beamed: TO A FRIEND. 59 And might not the tears which unconsciously fell, Possess a significant meaning as well! O friend of my bosom! I stray Through life's chequered valleys with thee: If clouds ever darken thy way, Their shadows must fall upon me: While stars that illumine thy pilgrimage, shine, With beams of encouraging mercy, on mine. Then whether it enter arrayed In all the fair colors of spring, Or wrapped in as hoary a shade As winterly tempests can bring, This day to my heart will forever appear 60 DAS LIEBEN'S ZIEL. DAS LIEBEN'S-ZIEL. WE seek that which we ne'er can win- We mourn for things all fled away: We struggle through life's dreamy years, And when our last, best home appears, We enter it-to rest! ANON. TO JULIA. 61 TO JULIA. WHEN Time was entwining the garland of years, Which to crown my beloved was given, Though some of the leaves might be sullied with tears, Yet the flowers were all gathered in heaven. And long may this garland be sweet to the eye, Young love shall enrich it with many a sigh, And sympathy nurse it with dew. T. MOORE. |