THE MAIDEN
I gazed on a beautiful girl,
How bright were the tints on her cheek!
How brilliant the light in her eyes!—
Her manner soft, pensive, and meek.
So full of sad sweetness her smile,
Her voice like the low breathing flute;
Her fingers long, slender and white,
And soft the light fall of her foot.
But ah! the chill hand of desay
Lay cold on her white, heaving breast;
She faded away with the leaf—
The Autumn winds sung to her rest.
THE YOUTH
A stripling, fair, slender, and tall,
And pale as the lily of May—
The down yet unmown on his cheek—
Is drooping in early decay.
He strays by the lake and the stream,
Inhaling the health-bringing breeze;
Feeble his step, and panting his breath,
As he lingers beneath the trees.
Gloomy and stern November came,
‘Twas cloudy, and stormy, and cold;
The death-cold youth is borne away
In his frozen mantle’s fold.
THE AGED
That stooping and tottering form!
He is wrinkled, hoary, and pale:
Slow decay is sapping his life,
And desire has begun to fail.
The silver cord that bound his life
Is loosened; the aged form
Reposes now on his narrow bed,
With darkness, decay, and the worm.
The human form, each thing that lives,
And grows on this perishing earth—
The trees, the plants, the flowers, the fruits—
Inherit decay from their birth.
The heavens, with the shining stars,
Grow old and must suffer decay,
And, like a worn garment, be changed,
And vanish for ever away.
(Janet Hamilton)
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Based on Topics: Life Poems, Light Poems, Sadness Poems, Nature Poems, Youth Poems, Fairness Poems, Flowers Poems, Beauty Poems, Smiling Poems, Birth Poems, Silver PoemsBased on Keywords: may-, sapping, death-cold, cheek-, unmown, fruits-, leaf-
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