In the cold change which time hath wrought on love <br />(The snowy winter of his summer prime), <br />Should a chance sigh or sudden tear-drop move <br />Thy heart to memory of the olden time; <br />Turn not to gaze on me with pitying eyes, <br />Nor mock me with a withered hope renewed; <br />But from the bower we both have loved, arise <br />And leave me to my barren solitude! <br />What boots it that a momentary flame <br />Shoots from the ashes of a dying fire? <br />We gaze upon the hearth from whence it came, <br />And know the exhausted embers must expire: <br />Therefore no pity, or my heart will break; <br />Be cold, be careless-for thy past love's sake!<br /><br />Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-cold-change/
