Jephthah and Other Mysteries

148 MYSTERIES: Behold we would that hours and minutes pass, Watch the sands falling in the eager glass ; To wile their weariness is pleasure’s bliss ; But ah! the years! like smoke They fade, alas! We weep them as they slip away; we gaze Back on the likeness of the former days— The hair we fondle and the lips we kiss— Roses grow yellow and no purple stays. Ah! the old years! Come back, ye vanished hours We wasted ; come, grow red, ye faded flowers! What boots the weariness of olden time . Now, when old age, a tempest-fury, lowers ? Up to high God beyond the weary land The days drift mournfully ; His hoary hand Gathers them. Is itso? My foolish rhyme Dreams they are links upon an endless band. The planets draw in endless orbits round The sun ; itself revolves in the profound Deep wells of space; the comet’s mystic track By the strong rule of a closed curve is bound. Why not with time? To-morrow we may see The circle ended—if to-morrow be— , And gaze on chaos, and a week bring back Adam and Eve beneath the apple tree.