Page:The works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld volume 1.djvu/350

 life as opening buds is sweet, And golden hopes the fancy greet, And Youth prepares his joys to meet, Alas ! how hard it is to die! When just is seized some valued prize, And duties press, and tender ties Forbid the soul from earth to rise,— How awful then it is to die! When, one by one, those ties are torn, And friend from friend is snatched forlorn, And man is left alone to mourn,— Ah then, how easy 'tis to die!