What does time whisper, youth gay and light, <br />While thinning thy locks, silken and bright, <br />While paling thy soft cheek’s roseate dye, <br />Dimming the light of thy flashing eye, <br />Stealing thy bloom and freshness away— <br />Is he not hinting at death—decay? <br /> <br />Man, in the wane of thy stately prime, <br />Hear’st thou the silent warnings of Time? <br />Look at thy brow ploughed by anxious care, <br />The silver hue of thy once dark hair;— <br />What boot thine honors, thy treasures bright, <br />When Time tells of coming gloom and night? <br /> <br />Sad age, dost thou note thy strength nigh, spent, <br />How slow thy footstep—thy form how bent? <br />Yet on looking back how short doth seem <br />The checkered coarse of thy life’s brief dream. <br />Time, daily weakening each link and tie, <br />Doth whisper how soon thou art to die. <br /> <br />O! what a weary world were ours <br />With that thought to cloud our brightest hours, <br />Did we not know that beyond the skies <br />A land of beauty and promise ties, <br />Where peaceful and blessed we will love—adore— <br />When Time itself shall be no more!<br /><br />Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-whispers-of-time/
