Classic Poem

TO NATHAN DRAKE, ON THE TITLE OF HIS NEWLY ANNOUNCED WORK .

“M ORNINGS in Spring.”—Oh! happy thou, indeed,
 Thus with the glow of sunset to combine
 Day's earlier brightness, and in life's decline
To send thought, feeling, fancy back to feed
In youth's fresh pastures, from the emerald mead
 To cull Spring flowers with Autumn fruits to twine;
 And borrow from past harmonies benign
Strains sweeter far than of the pastoral reed.
Not such the lot of him who, ere his sun
 Have past its Summer solstice, feels the bloom
 Of June o'ershadow'd by December gloom;
Thankful if, when life's stormy race be run,
The humble hope that his day's work is done,
 May cheer the shadowy entrance to the tomb.