Loss And Gain
From day to day, from year to year,
New waves of change assail us here;
Each day, each year, prolongs the chain
Where pleasure alternates with pain.
New earth-born exhalations rise,
To hide the heavens from our eyes;
New clouds obscure the vision fair,
Which once was round us everywhere.
New precious obligations come,
New sanctities of love and home,
New tender hopes, new anxious fears,
And sweet experiences of tears.
Old tastes are lost, old thoughts grow strange,
Old longings gradually change,
New waves of change assail us here;
Each day, each year, prolongs the chain
Where pleasure alternates with pain.
New earth-born exhalations rise,
To hide the heavens from our eyes;
New clouds obscure the vision fair,
Which once was round us everywhere.
New precious obligations come,
New sanctities of love and home,
New tender hopes, new anxious fears,
And sweet experiences of tears.
Old tastes are lost, old thoughts grow strange,
Old longings gradually change,