THE ARGUMENT. Introduction.... Ringing of bells in a neighbouring Village on the Birth of an Heir.....General Reflections on Human Life.....The Subject proposed..... Childhood..... Youth.....Manhood......Love......Marriage......Domestic Happiness and Affliction....War....Peace..... Civil Dissension..... Retirement from active Life.....Old Age and its Enjoyments.....Conclusion. THE lark has sung his carol in the sky; The bees have hummed their noon-tide lullaby. Still in Llewellyn-hall the jests resound: For now the caudle-cup is circling there, Now, glad at heart, the gossips breathe their prayer, And, crowding, stop the cradle to admire The babe, the sleeping image of his sire. A few short years-and then these sounds shall hail The day again, and gladness fill the vale; So soon the child a youth, the youth a man, Then the huge ox shall yield the broad sir-loin ; The nurse shall cry, of all her ills beguiled, ""Twas on these knees he sate so oft and smiled." And once, alas, nor in a distant hour, Another voice shall come from yonder tower; When in dim chambers long black weeds are seen, And weepings heard where only joy has been; When by his children borne, and from his door Slowly departing to return no more, He rests in holy earth with them that went before. And such is Human Life; so gliding on, It glimmers like a meteor, and is gone! Yet is the tale, brief though it be, as strange, To minstrel-harps at midnight's witching hour! Of Elfin-size-for ever as we run, We cast a longer shadow in the sun! And now a charm, and now a grace is won! We grow in wisdom, and in stature too! Yet, all forgot, how oft the eye-lids close, And from the slack hand drops the gathered rose! How oft, as dead, on the warm turf we lie, While many an emmet comes with curious eye; And on her nest the watchful wren sits by! Nor do we speak or move, or hear or see; So like what once we were, and once again shall be ! say, how soon, where, blithe as innocent, And The boy at sun-rise whistled as he went, An aged pilgrim on his staff shall lean, No eye observes the growth or the decay. Yet while the loveliest smiles, her locks grow grey! And in her glass could she but see the face She'll see so soon amidst another race, How would she shrink!-Returning from afar, After some years of travel, some of war, |