Classic Poem

We have seen the strong man fail,
The glorious eyes burn dim,
The cheek in death grow pale,
And we have wept for Him.
We have seen the lovely die,
The beautiful of earth,
With gifts of promise high,
Just bursting into birth,
We have felt that life was vain
Beside the closing grave,
How weak its silver chain
How impotent to save;
Yet with the darkness of the hour
Hath passed the impress of its power.

We have marked the faith that springs
In life's last labored breath,
When failed the heart's bright strings
Beneath the hands of Death;
The smile upon the cheek
E'en while that cheek grew chill —
We have felt our treasures weak
Yet loved those treasures still;
We have heaved the secret sigh,
And turned to earth again,
Where all the heart holds dear
Is swift to pass away;
Still clinging with that feeble grasp
To things that wither in our clasp.

Our hopes are reared on dust —
Our joys a less than dream —
A rope of sand our trust —
Our life a meteor gleam,
Its birth and death a tear,
Its suffering and peace
A moment mingle here
And in that moment cease.
Hope after hope retires
And pleasures pass away,
But till the spark expires
We trust its fitful ray,
And seek not for that better part
That fills and purifies the heart.

Where dwells the human heart
Amid earth's brightest things
But finds the bitter part
That desolation brings?

To smile — 'tis but to wear
Deceit o'er sorrow's cup;
To weep — 'tis but to bear
Life's common burden up;
To hope — 'tis but the bloom
That lingers 'round decay;
To love — 'tis but to doom
The loved to pass away;
And not in earth's dark walk is given
The high, unfading joys of heaven.