'Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas, <br />Atque metus omnes, et inexorabile fatum <br />Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari!' <br /> <br />IN childhood, when with eager eyes <br />The season-measured year I view'd, <br />All garb'd in fairy guise, <br />Pledged constancy of good. <br /> <br />Spring sang of heaven; the summer flowers <br />Bade me gaze on, and did not fade; <br />Even suns o'er autumn's bowers <br />Heard my strong wish, and stay'd. <br /> <br />They came and went, the short-lived four; <br />Yet, as their varying dance they wove, <br />To my young heart each bore <br />Its own sure claim of love. <br /> <br />Far different now;—the whirling year <br />Vainly my dizzy eyes pursue; <br />And its fair tints appear <br />All blent in one dusk hue. <br /> <br />Why dwell on rich autumnal lights, <br />Spring-time, or winter's social ring? <br />Long days are fire-side nights, <br />Brown autumn is fresh spring. <br /> <br />Then what this world to thee, my heart? <br />Its gifts nor feed thee nor can bless. <br />Thou hast no owner's part <br />In all its fleetingness. <br /> <br />The flame, the storm, the quaking ground, <br />Earth's joy, earth's terror, nought is thine, <br />Thou must but hear the sound <br />Of the still voice divine. <br /> <br />O priceless art! O princely state! <br />E'en while by sense of change opprest, <br />Within to antedate <br />Heaven's Age of fearless rest.<br /><br />John Henry Newman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-trance-of-time-2/
