Classic Poem

I.

The swift years pass, fast flies the snow,
Fast blow the gusts of autumn time,
Fast grows the summer from its prime,
Fast the world-currents ebb and flow,
Comes death, goes life, and like the glow
Of poet's thoughts in poet's rhyme
That raise us to a golden clime,
Illusions soothe us as we go:
We are but children, — God is great!
In face of death we could not live,
Were there no castles in the clouds,
No earthly hopes that hearts elate,
No daily joys His dear hands give,
No flowers to hide the sombre shrouds.

II.

New days! new friends — we love them all!
God gives new sunlight each new day,
And when the older pass away,
He throws some blossoms on death's pall, —
He puts fresh garlands on the wall
That hides from us the holy ray, —
The Blessed Vision that alway
Will shine for those who hear His call:
Which are the deeper, — smiles or prayers?
Why chide us, if we laugh to-day
With newer friends, when hearts are cold
That once knew all our joys and cares?
No man is false, who, true, can say
" Smiles for the new, prayers for the old! "