• The Half-seen memories of childish days,
    When pains and pleasures lightly came and went;
    The sympathies of boyhood rashly spent
    In fearful wanderings through forbidden ways;
    The vague, but manly wish to tread the maze
    Of life to noble ends,—whereon intent,
    Asking to know for what man here is sent,
    The bravest heart must often pause, and...

  • Sad is our youth, for it is ever going,
    Crumbling away beneath our very feet;
    Sad is our life, for onward it is flowing
    In current unperceived, because so fleet;
    Sad are our hopes, for they were sweet in sowing,—
    But tares, self-sown, have overtopped the wheat;
    Sad are our joys, for they were sweet in blowing,—
    And still, O, still their...