Classic Poem

When the spring tide of thy life shall have passed away, with all its
joyous anticipations and budding hopes--when Summer with the music of
its birds and the perfume of its flowers, and melancholy Autumn, with
its faded leaf and sighing winds, shall have chased each other down
the tide of time, and the cold blasts of Winter have begun to chill
the life-blood in thy veins--when the hand that penned these lines
shall be mouldering in dust, and the friends of thy youth who
journeyed with thee along the pathway of life, and who cheered thee
with the music of their voices and the light of their smiles have,
perchance, one by one passed away, and left thee to journey on in
loneliness of heart, when the light of thine own eye shall have become
dimmed, and thy sunny hair whitened by the frosts of age--when thy
voice, which was wont to gush forth in melody and song, entrancing
the ear and cheering the heart of the listener, has become weak and
tremulous, and care and sorrow have set their seal upon thy brow.
Oh, then may the recollection of no misspent hours, of no neglected
opportunities for doing good, or wasted privileges, arise like dim
meteors from the tomb to haunt thee with their reproach, but may the
smiles of an approving conscience beam upon thee; may sweet peace and
hope administer the balm of consolation to thy wounded spirit; may
angels hover o'er the couch of thy repose, and fan thee with their
balmy wings, and when thy tired spirit shall burst its prison house of
clay,

May they bear it to mansions of the blest,
There to repose on Jesus' breast;
From every pain and sorrow free,--
This is the boon I ask for thee.