I saw a youth, one of God's favored few, <br />Crowned with beauty, and talents, and health; <br />He had climbed the steep pathway, and cut his way through <br />To the summit of glory and wealth. <br />The day is breaking, hearts are waking, <br />Refreshed for the field of labor: <br />Arise, arise, like the king of the skies, <br />With a greeting for friend and neighbor. <br /> <br /> <br />He had toiled hard for the honors he'd won, <br />He had climbed over high rocks, forded streams; <br />Braved the bleak winter snow, the hot summer sun, <br />He was reaching the goal of his dreams. <br />The day hangs around us, the sun hath bound us <br />With fetters silken and yellow: <br />Flow, flow away, fleeting day, <br />Golden-hearted and mellow. <br /> <br /> <br />I saw the youth lift a mug to his mouth, <br />Drink the last drop of the fearful first glass! <br />Ah! his veins thrill in a fierce, scorching drouth, <br />He fills it again, again drinks it! alas! <br />The day is dying, hearts are sighing, <br />Crushed with a weight of sorrow: <br />Sleep, oh! sleep, in a slumber deep, <br />And wait for a bright to-morrow. <br /> <br /> <br />I saw him low in the dust at my feet, <br />Gone beauty, health, wealth, strength, talents, all; <br />From the summit of Fame to the slime of the street, <br />He had bartered his soul for the fiend Alcohol. <br />The night hangs o'er us, the wind's wild chorus <br />Shrieks like a demons' revel: <br />Weep, sob, weep, for the fog is deep, <br />And the world is sold to the devil.<br /><br />Ella Wheeler Wilcox<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/what-i-have-seen-4/
