Page:Fugitive Poetry 1600-1878.djvu/137
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WED NOT FOR GOLD.
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Life will not prove all sunshine—there will come
Dark hours for all—oh, will ye, when the night
Of sorrow gathers thickly round your home,
Love, as ye did in times when calm and bright
Seemed the sure path ye trod, untouched by care,
And deemed the future, like the present, fair?
Dark hours for all—oh, will ye, when the night
Of sorrow gathers thickly round your home,
Love, as ye did in times when calm and bright
Seemed the sure path ye trod, untouched by care,
And deemed the future, like the present, fair?
Eyes that now beam with health may yet grow dim,
And cheeks of rose forget their early glow;
Languor and pain assail each active limb,
And lay, perchance, some worshipped beauty low:
Then will ye gaze upon the altered brow
And love as fondly, faithfully, as now?
And cheeks of rose forget their early glow;
Languor and pain assail each active limb,
And lay, perchance, some worshipped beauty low:
Then will ye gaze upon the altered brow
And love as fondly, faithfully, as now?
Should Fortune frown on your defenceless head,
Should storms o'ertake your bark on life's dark sea,
Fierce tempests rend the sail so gaily spread,
When Hope her syren strain sang joyously:
Will ye look up, though clouds your sky o'ercast,
And say, Together we will bide the blast?
Should storms o'ertake your bark on life's dark sea,
Fierce tempests rend the sail so gaily spread,
When Hope her syren strain sang joyously:
Will ye look up, though clouds your sky o'ercast,
And say, Together we will bide the blast?
Age with its silvery locks comes stealing on,
And brings the tottering step, the furrowed cheek,
The eye from which each lustrous gleam hath gone,
And the pale lip, with accents low and weak.
Will ye then think upon your life's gay prime,
And, smiling, bid Love triumph over Time?
And brings the tottering step, the furrowed cheek,
The eye from which each lustrous gleam hath gone,
And the pale lip, with accents low and weak.
Will ye then think upon your life's gay prime,
And, smiling, bid Love triumph over Time?
Speak it not lightly! Oh! beware, beware!
'Tis no vain promise, no unmeaning word,
Lo! men and angels list the faith ye swear,
And by the High and Holy One 'tis heard.
Oh then kneel humbly at His altar now,
And pray for strength to keep the marriage vow!
'Tis no vain promise, no unmeaning word,
Lo! men and angels list the faith ye swear,
And by the High and Holy One 'tis heard.
Oh then kneel humbly at His altar now,
And pray for strength to keep the marriage vow!
Wed Not for Gold.
Wouldst wed for gold? Seek yonder palace-gate,
Where liveried menials at the entrance wait:
They guard the porch 'gainst all of low degree,
But thou, unseen, shall enter there with me,
And learn a lesson from a gilded paeg;
Too true the tale it tells, from age to age,
Where liveried menials at the entrance wait:
They guard the porch 'gainst all of low degree,
But thou, unseen, shall enter there with me,
And learn a lesson from a gilded paeg;
Too true the tale it tells, from age to age,