Page:Poetical Remains.pdf/35

Such homeless notes as through the forest sigh,
    From the reed's hollow shaken,
    When sudden breezes waken
        Their vague wild symphony:
No power is theirs, and no abiding-place
In human hearts; their sweetness leaves no trace,—
        Born only so to die!

"Never shall aught but perfume, faint and vain,
    On the fleet pinion of the changeful hour,
        From thy bruis'd life again
            A moment's essence breathe;
    Thy life, whose trampled flower
            Into the blessed wreath
Of household charities no longer bound,
Lies pale and withering on the barren ground.

"So fade, fade on! thy gift of love shall cling,
    A coiling sadness, round thy heart and brain,
A silent, fruitless, yet undying thing,
        All sensitive to pain!