Page:Ethel Churchill Fragments II.pdf/39



Age is a dreary thing when left alone: It needs the sunshine brought by fresher years; It lives its youth again while seeing youth, And childhood brings its childhood back again. But for the lonely and the aged man Left to the silent hearth, the vacant home Where no sweet voices sound, no light steps come Disturbing memory from its heaviness— Wo for such lot! 'tis life's most desolate! Age needeth love and youth to cheer the path— The short dark pathway leading to the tomb.