Let no one fondly dream again, Fleeting as were the dreams of old, Our lives are rivers, gliding free Thither all earthly pomp and boast Thither the mighty torrents stray, There all are equal. Side by side I will not here invoke the throng The deathless few; Fiction entices and deceives, And, sprinkled o'er her fragrant leaves, To One alone my thoughts arise, The Eternal Truth,-the Good and Wise, To Him I cry, Who shared on earth our common lot, His deity. This world is but the rugged road Of peace above; So let us choose that narrow way, Our cradle is the starting place. In life we run the onward race, And reach the goal; When, in the mansions of the blest, Death leaves to its eternal rest The weary soul. Did we but use it as we ought, } This world would school each wandering thought To its high state. Faith wings the soul beyond the sky, Up to that better world on high, For which we wait. Yes, the glad messenger of love, Born amid mortal cares and fears, Behold of what delusive worth The bubbles we pursue on earth. Amid a world of treachery! They vanish ere death shuts the eye, Time steals them from us,-chances strange, That come to all; Even in the most exalted state, Relentless sweeps the stroke of fate; The strongest fall. Tell me,-the charms that lovers seek, O'er rosy lip and brow of snow, Ah, where are they? The cunning skill, the curious arts, The glorious strength that youth imparts These shall become a heavy weight, When Time swings wide his outward gate The noble blood of Gothic name, In high array; How, in the onward course of time, Some, the degraded slaves of lust, Prostrate and trampled in the dust, Shall rise no more; Others, by guilt and crime, maintain Wealth and the high estate of pride, With what untimely speed they glide, How soon depart! Bid not the shadowy phantoms stay, These gifts in Fortune's hands are found; No rest the inconstant goddess knows Even could the hand of avarice save Let none on such poor hopes rely; Earthly desires and sensual lust Are passions springing from the dust, They fade and die; But, in the life beyond the tomb, The pleasures and delights, which mask But the fleet coursers of the chase, No foe, no dangerous pass, we heed, And, when the fatal snare is near, Could we new charms to age impart, As we can clothe the soul with light, With heavenly grace,― How busily each passing hour What ardour show, To deck the sensual slave of sin, Yet leave the freeborn soul within, In weeds of woe! Monarchs, the powerful and the strong, Famous in history and in song Of olden time, Saw, by the stern decrees of fate, Their race sublime. Who is the champion? who the strong? As heavily the hand of Death, As when it stays the shepherd's breath I speak not of the Trojan name, Nor of Rome's great and glorious dead, Little avails it now to know Our theme shall be of yesterday, Like days of old. Where is the King, Don Juan? Where Of Aragon? Where are the courtly gallantries? Tourney and joust that charmed the eye, And nodding plume, What were they but a pageant scene? That deck the tomb? Where are the high-born dames, and where Their gay attire, and jewelled hair, And odours sweet? Where are the gentle knights, that came To kneel, and breathe love's ardent flame, Where is the song of Troubadour ? yore Where is the mazy dance of old, The flowing robes, inwrought with gold, And he who next the sceptre swayed, Oh, in what winning smiles arrayed, But ah! how false and full of guile She, that had been his friend before, Now from the fated monarch tore The countless gifts, the stately walls, Plate with armorial bearings wrought, The noble steeds, and harness bright, Where shall we seek them now? Alas! His brother, too, whose factious zeal What a gay, brilliant court had he, When all the flower of chivalry Was in his train! But he was mortal, and the breath That flamed from the hot forge of Death, Blasted his years; Judgment of God! that flame by thee, Spain's haughty Constable,-the true Breathe not a whisper of his pride,- The countless treasures of his care, His mighty power, What were they all but grief and shame, Tears and a broken heart, when came The parting hour? His other brothers, proud and high, Masters, who, in prosperity, Might rival kings; Who made the bravest and the best The bondsmen of their high behest, |