Poems (Sherwin)/All things pass away

by Elizabeth Sherwin

ALL THINGS PASS AWAY.

In morning's life I hailed the flowers
 That glittered in my sunny path;
And smiled as passed the golden hours,
 Which youth in all its freshness hath.

But soon a blight came sweeping o'er,
 And on its wings brought sad decay:
The drooping flowers now bloomed no more,
 But withered, leaf by leaf, away.

I saw two little parent wrens
 Construct their nicely fashion'd nest,
With moss from off the neighbouring fens,
 Wherein their callow young might rest.

A little chirping brood they came,
 And filled the parents' hearts with glee,
All anxiously they fed the same,
 And joyous hopped from tree to tree.

A groop of school-boys, wandering by,
 With eager gladness snatched the prize,
Unheedful of the parent's cry,
 Nor let one pitying thought arise.

I saw a little smiling child
 At play before its parents' door;
All flushed with ruddy health it smiled,
 And blooming looks of joy it wore.

But pallid sickness bow'd its head,
 And made its little bosom heave,
And soon it lay, all cold and dead,
 Within the dark and silent grave.

Thus all things pass away;
 There's nothing on the earth can last
Ambition's bulwarks all decay,—
 Even Time itself is fading fast.