As a beam o'er the face of the waters may glow <br />While the tide runs in darkness and coldness below, <br />So the cheek may be tinged with a warm sunny smile, <br />Though the cold heart to ruin runs darkly the while. <br /> <br />One fatal remembrance, one sorrow that throws <br />Its bleak shade alike o'er our joys and our woes, <br />To which life nothing darker or brighter can bring, <br />For which joy has no balm and affliction no sting -- <br /> <br />Oh! this thought in the midst of enjoyment will stay, <br />Like a dead, leafless branch in the summer's bright ray; <br />The beams of the warm sun play round it in vain; <br />It may smile in his light, but it blooms not again.<br /><br />Thomas Moore<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/as-a-beam-o-er-the-face-of-the-waters-may-glow/
