Classic Poem

When things were in their pride,
And Youth with morning mind
Went lost and ardent eyed
Down by the broadening stream,
How could he think to find
That life beloved had lied—
Its promise undesigned
Discordant to his dream?

While circumstance-led so,
How could he choose but go
To the music of delight?
Or how with laughter learn
On roads of no return
To numb his heart and know
The ugly facts of night?