Page:The Hundred Best Poems (lyrical) in the English language - second series.djvu/63

  The gladsome current of our youth, Ere passion yet disorders, Steals, lingering like a river smooth Along its grassy borders.

But, as the care-worn cheek grows wan, And sorrow's shafts fly thicker, Ye stars, that measure life to man, Why seem your courses quicker?

When joys have lost their bloom and breath, And life itself is vapid, Why, as we reach the Falls of death, Feel we its tide more rapid?

It may be strange—yet who would change, Time's course to slower speeding; When one by one our friends have gone, And left our bosoms bleeding?

Heaven gives our years of fading strength Indemnifying fleetness; And those of Youth, a seeming length, Proportion'd to their sweetness. 1840 Edition.

 25.

HE that loves a rosy cheek, Or a coral lip admires,  41