'Tis past! we breathe! assuaged at length The flames that drank our vital strength! Smote with intolerable heat No more our throbbing temples beat. How clear the sky, how pure the air, The heavens how bright, the earth how fair! The bosom cool, the spirits light, Active the day, and calm the night! But O, the swiftly shortening day! Low in the west the sinking ray! With rapid pace advancing still "The morning hoar, the evening chill," The falling leaf, the fading year, And Winter ambushed in the rear! Thus, when the fervid Passions cool, And Judgement, late, begins to rule; When Reason mounts her throne serene, And social Friendship gilds the scene; When man, of ripened powers possest, Broods o'er the treasures of his breast; Exults, in conscious worth elate, Lord of himself -- almost of fate; Then, then declines the' unsteady flame, Disease, slow mining, saps the frame; Cold damps of age around are shed, That chill the heart, and cloud the head. The failing spirits prompt no more, The curtain drops, life's day is o'er. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MAUSOLEUM by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN THE FADELESS CANVAS by CHARLOTTE LOUISE BERTLESEN HINC LACHRIMAE; OR THE AUTHOR TO AURORA: 17 by WILLIAM BOSWORTH LITTLEHOLME; FOR J.S. AND A.W.S. by GORDON BOTTOMLEY AUTUMN by WILLIAM ASPENWALL BRADLEY THE CAMPUS IN VACATION by ANNE MILLAY BREMER THE THREE SORROWS by JULIEN AUGUSTE PELAGE BRIZEUX BRITANNIA'S PASTORALS: BOOK 2. THE SECOND SONG by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643) |