YOUTH! thou art a lovely time, <br />With thy wild and dreaming eyes; <br />Looking onwards to their prime, <br />Coloured by their April skies, <br />Yet I do not wish for thee, <br />Pass, oh! quickly pass from me. <br /> <br />Thou hast all too much unrest, <br />Haunted by vain hopes and fears; <br />Though thy cheeks with smiles be drest, <br />Yet that cheek is wet with tears. <br />Bitter are the frequent showers, <br />Falling in thy sunny hours. <br /> <br />Let my heart grow calm and cold, <br />Calm to sorrow, cold to love; <br />Let affections loose their hold, <br />Let my spirit look above. <br />I am weary—youth pass on. <br />All thy dearest gifts are gone. <br /> <br />She in whose sweet form the Greek <br />Bade his loveliest vision dwell; <br />She of yon bright cup and cheek, <br />From her native heaven fell: <br />Type of what may never last, <br />Soon the heaven of youth is past. <br /> <br />Oh! farewell—for never more <br />Can thy dreams again be mine; <br />Hope and truth and faith are o'er, <br />And the heart which was their shrine <br />Has no boon of thee to seek, <br />Asking but to rest or break.<br /><br />Letitia Elizabeth Landon<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hebe-2/
