Page:Famous Single Poems (1924).djvu/286

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Famous Single Poems

Take the lesson to thyself,
True and loving heart;
Golden youth is fleeting by,
Summer hours depart;
Learn to make the most of life,
Lose no happy day;
Time will never bring thee back
Chances swept away!
Leave no tender word unsaid,
Love while love shall last —
“The mill cannot grind
With the water that is past.”

Work while yet the daylight shines,
Man of strength and will!
Never does the streamlet glide
Useless by the mill;
Wait not till to-morrow’s sun
Beams upon thy way,
All that thou canst call thine own
Lies in thy “To-day;”
Power, intellect and health
May not always last—
“The mill cannot grind
With the water that is past.”

Oh, the wasted hours of life
That have drifted by!
Oh, the good that might have been—
Lost, without a sigh!

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