Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/309

Rh "Race after race, man after man,

Have thought that my secret was theirs,

Have dreamed that I lived but for them,

That they were my glory and joy.

—They are dust, they are changed, they are gone!

I remain."

THE YOUTH OF MAN.

, O Nature, depart:

Thou survivest us! This,

This, I know, is the law.

Yes! but, more than this,

Thou who seest us die

Seest us change while we live;

Seest our dreams, one by one,

Seest our errors depart;

Watchest us, Nature! throughout

Mild and inscrutably calm.

Well for us that we change!

Well for us that the power

Which in our morning prime

Saw the mistakes of our youth,

Sweet, and forgiving, and good,

Sees the contrition of age!

Behold, O Nature, this pair!

See them to-night where they stand,

Not with the halo of youth

Crowning their brows with its light,

Not with the sunshine of hope,

Not with the rapture of spring,