Oh! think not my spirits are always as light, <br />And as free from a pang as they seem to you now, <br />Nor expect that the heart-beaming smile of to-night <br />Will return with to-morrow to brighten my brow. <br />No: -- life is a waste of wearisome hours, <br />Which seldom the rose of enjoyment adorns; <br />And the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers, <br />Is always the first to be touch'd by the thorns. <br />But send round the bowl, and be happy awhile -- <br />May we never meet worse, in our pilgrimage here, <br />Than the tear that enjoyment may gild with a smile, <br />And the smile that compassion can turn to a tear. <br /> <br />The thread of our life would be dark, Heaven knows <br />If it were not with friendship and love intertwined; <br />And I care not how soon I may sink to repose, <br />When these blessing shall cease to be dear to my mind. <br />But they who have loved the fondest, the purest, <br />Too often have wept o'er the dream they believed; <br />And the heart that has slumber'd in friendship securest <br />Is happy indeed if 'twas never deceived. <br />But send round the bowl; while a relic of truth <br />Is in man or in woman, this prayer shall be mine, -- <br />That the sunshine of love may illumine our youth, <br />And the moonlight of friendship console our decline.<br /><br />Thomas Moore<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/oh-think-not-my-spirits-are-always-as-light/
