THE MAIDEN <br /> <br />I gazed on a beautiful girl, <br />How bright were the tints on her cheek! <br />How brilliant the light in her eyes!- <br />Her manner soft, pensive, and meek. <br /> <br /> <br />So full of sad sweetness her smile, <br />Her voice like the low breathing flute; <br />Her fingers long, slender and white, <br />And soft the light fall of her foot. <br /> <br /> <br />But ah! the chill hand of desay <br />Lay cold on her white, heaving breast; <br />She faded away with the leaf- <br />The Autumn winds sung to her rest. <br /> <br /> <br />THE YOUTH <br /> <br />A stripling, fair, slender, and tall, <br />And pale as the lily of May- <br />The down yet unmown on his cheek- <br />Is drooping in early decay. <br /> <br /> <br />He strays by the lake and the stream, <br />Inhaling the health-bringing breeze; <br />Feeble his step, and panting his breath, <br />As he lingers beneath the trees. <br /> <br /> <br />Gloomy and stern November came, <br />'Twas cloudy, and stormy, and cold; <br />The death-cold youth is borne away <br />In his frozen mantle's fold. <br /> <br /> <br />THE AGED <br /> <br />That stooping and tottering form! <br />He is wrinkled, hoary, and pale: <br />Slow decay is sapping his life, <br />And desire has begun to fail. <br /> <br /> <br />The silver cord that bound his life <br />Is loosened; the aged form <br />Reposes now on his narrow bed, <br />With darkness, decay, and the worm. <br /> <br /> <br />The human form, each thing that lives, <br />And grows on this perishing earth- <br />The trees, the plants, the flowers, the fruits- <br />Inherit decay from their birth. <br /> <br /> <br />The heavens, with the shining stars, <br />Grow old and must suffer decay, <br />And, like a worn garment, be changed, <br />And vanish for ever away.<br /><br />Janet Hamilton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/decay-13/
