OUR hopes in youth are like those roseate shadows Cast by the sunlight on the dewy grass When first the fair morn opes her sapphire eyes; They seem gigantic and yet graceful shades, Touched with bright color. As our sun of life Rises towards meridian, less and less Grow the bright tremulous shadows, till at last, In the hot dust and noontide of our day, They glimmer to blank nothingness. Again, That grand climacteric passed, the shadows gleam Bright still, perchance (if our past deeds be pure), -- @3Bright still, but all reversed! Eastward@1 they point, Lengthening and lengthening ever toward the dawn; For hopes have then grown memories, whose strange life Deepens and deepens as the sunset dies. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...VIGNETTES OVERSEAS: 3. NAPLES by SARA TEASDALE SONNET TO LAKE LEMAN by GEORGE GORDON BYRON VIRTUE [OR, VERTUE] by GEORGE HERBERT THE SHOEMAKERS by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER THE MEANING by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE THE CHILDREN'S BOATS by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON PUTTING THE CREAM IN THE WELL OF VERMONT by DANIEL LEAVENS CADY TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: PART 4. THE ONE FOUNDATION by EDWARD CARPENTER |