'The voice of One hath spoken, <br />And the bended reed is bruised-- <br />The golden bowl is broken, <br />And the silver cord is loosed.' <br /> <br />Over the eyes of gladness <br />The lids of sorrow fall, <br />And the light of mirth is darkened <br />Under the funeral pall. <br /> <br />The hearts that throbbed with rapture <br />In dreams of the future years, <br />Are wakened from their slumbers, <br />And their visions drowned in tears. <br /> <br />. . . . . . . <br />Two buds on the bough in the morning-- <br />Twin buds in the smiling sun, <br />But the frost of death has fallen <br />And blighted the bloom of one. <br /> <br />One leaf of life still folded <br />Has fallen from the stem, <br />Leaving the symbol teaching <br />There still are two of them,-- <br /> <br />For though--through Time's gradations, <br />The LIVING bud may burst,-- <br />The WITHERED one is gathered, <br />And blooms in Heaven first.<br /><br />James Whitcomb Riley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/over-the-eyes-of-gladness/
