The Chrysanthemums in the Eastern Garden
The days of my youth left me long ago;
And now in their turn dwindle my years of prime.
With what thoughts of sadness and loneliness
I walk again in this cold, deserted place!
In the midst of the garden long I stand alone;
The sunshine, faint; the wind and dew chill.
The autumn lettuce is tangled and turned to seed;
The fair trees are blighted and withered away.
All that is left are a few chrysanthemum-flowers
That have newly opened beneath the wattled fence.
I had brought wine and meant to fill my cup,
When the sight of these made me stay my hand.
I remember, when I was young,
How easily my mood changed from sad to gay.
If I saw wine, no matter what season,
Before I drank it, my heart was already glad.
But now that age comes,
A moment of joy is harder and harder to get.
And always I fear that when I am quite old
The strongest liquor will leave me comfortless.
Therefore I ask you, late chrysanthemum-flower
At this sad season why do you bloom alone?
Though well I know that it was not for my sake,
Taught by you, for a while I will open my face.
Related quotes
Rain
Thoughts of rain at sunset
Clouds of rainbow blue
Thoughts of sun on sand-dunes
Where the seabirds flew
This was our season, and we said it couldnt end
But my love left with the rain.
Thoughts of leaves in autumn
Falling from the trees
Thoughts of hoaring tree tops
Leading to the sea
This was our season, no lies and no pretend
But my love left with the rain.
Thoughts of springtime rainfall
Touching flowers that bend
Thoughts of wind in willows
Days that never end
This was our season, but sorrow waited round the bend
For my love left with the rain.
Rains the way you move now
Sun the way you seem
Leaves the way you wonder
Flowers the way you dream
This was our season, and we said it couldnt end
But my love left with the rain
song performed by by Nick Drake
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Last Days of Summer
Whatever the way the summer days end,
In the type of summer is how it has been,
Whether a good one or bad one,
The last days of summer,
Can be sad or happy endings,
As each season ends,
With another one beginning,
The summer could have been,
Miserable yet,
Sun scorching us everyday,
And sunlight shining on all our faces,
It is how it is,
Out there where all is seen,
In,
Summer days of fun,
Summer days of love,
Summer days of seeing,
Summer days of been,
Out and about where summer is,
And when summer came and went?
With a mundane feeling that it left?
Was the last days of summer,
And the begining of another,
Autumn as we know it,
Fall in other places,
Where the ending of one season shows,
By the decaying of it,
When Autumn Fall shows,
Where we will wrap up and snuggle,
With warm cuppas drinks,
With a book,
Or,
Catch up on watching films,
Yet,
Still,
Musing over the summer days,
Of sunshine memories,
Now,
Warm hats and gloves,
With rustle leaves,
That rustle beneath,
Our feet as we walk,
Through the park,
And see,
The summer leaves turn,
To autumn shades,
Taking in,
The last days of summer,
Reflecting,
And remember,
The falls of Autumn's,
Is the signs of summer,
That has ended,
And minglings with,
All that falls,
From the summer ending,
To autumn beginnings,
Is the,
Decaying,
Of summer,
To regrow itself,
For next season's of summer,
When it begins again,
Yet,
In between,
There's,
Autumn,
Winter,
Spring,
Till,
Again,
Last days of summer,
And all in bloom again.
poem by Ellen Ni Bheachain
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Chrysanthemum
Yes I hate the way I feel and it makes no sense
Five months gone and all I got
Pretty pink flowers on my chain link fence
I dont like what it means
Cause I know theres more to come
I cant go home without
Chrysanthemum
I walk around lost and I dont know why
I dont see the faces or the places I should recognize
Its like that dream where it feels like home but it dont look right
Yes I will look everywhere tonight
I will not stop till I make things right
And I cant go home till I see the sun
I cant go home without
Chrysanthemum
No I cant go home without
Chrysanthemum
song performed by by Everclear
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Open Season On My Heart
Here's to the corners yet to turn
Here's to the bridges yet to burn
Here's to the whole thing blown apart
It's open season on my heart
Days go by like flyin' bricks
Leave gaping holes, too deep to fix
I'd just stay home if I were smart
It's open season on my heart
I can't blame anyone but me
For this wreckless fool I've come to be
My tired excuses just don't fit
They don't look good from where I sit
I've tried to change without much luck
I reach the point where I get stuck
I hit the streets the fireworks start
It's open season on my heart
I can't be something that I'm not
I can't give what I haven't got
I don't know where or why or when
I only know the shape I'm in
So here's to the clown down in my mouth
Here's to the whole thing going south
My own true love's turned poison dart
It's open season on my heart
Here's turning heartaches into art
It's open season on my heart
song performed by by Tim McGraw
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Summer's Kiss
Write me a summer song
plant here a warming kiss
seed it in these furrows long
in sunsets' languid dip.
Sing lyrics to my buried soul
which lives beneath
in numbing receded cold.
Sing to me underground
another season's bloom.
See my soul steeled against
against this dying cold abyss.
I shall not die in winter's cold
nor miss this year's summer's kiss
I'll bloom my soul's flower
in garden green-
my petals high sky'ed-
flower flights and butterflies
star dust destines;
all my hopes mingled.
Plant me here then
on ready cheek
just one summer's kiss,
my furrow to bloom
my soul 'neath
will rise fully watered
flowers fully bloomed;
Now start in me another
Hope's Season
even beneath
my winter's frozen
soil.
And here regard
Winter's frozen bloom
kissed by your summer lips
your's planted
upon mine.
poem by Lonnie Hicks
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From The Portuguese
I
When I lived in the village of youth
There were lilies in all the orchards,
Flowers in the orange-gardens
For brides to wear in their hair.
It was always sunshine and summer,
Roses at every lattice,
Dreams in the eyes of maidens,
Love in the eyes of men.
When I lived in the village of youth
The doors, all the doors, stood open;
We went in and out of them laughing,
Laughing and calling each other
To shew each other our fairings,
The new shawl, the new comb, the new fan,
The new rose, the new lover.
Now I live in the town of age
Where are no orchards, no gardens.
Here, too, all the doors stand open,
But no one goes in or goes out.
We sit alone by the hearthstone
Where memories lie like ashes
Upon a hearth that is cold;
And they from the village of youth
Run by our doorsteps laughing,
Calling, to shew each other
The new shawl, the new comb, the new fan,
The new rose, the new lover.
Once we had all these things -
We kept them from the old people,
And now the young people have them
And will not shew them to us -
To us who are old and have nothing
But the white, still, heaped-up ashes
On the hearth where the fire went out
A very long time ago.
II
I had a mistress; I loved her.
She left me with memories bitter,
Corroding, eating my heart
As the acid eats into the steel
Etching the portrait triumphant.
Intolerable, indelible,
Never to be effaced.
A wife was mine to my heart,
Beautiful flower of my garden,
Lily I worshipped by day,
Scented rose of my nights.
Now the night wind sighing
Blows white rose petals only
Over the bed where she sleeps
Dreamless alone.
I had a son; I loved him.
Mother of God, bear witness
How all my manhood loved him
As thy womanhood loved thy Son!
When he was grown to his manhood
He crucified my heart,
And even as it hung bleeding
He laughed with his bold companions,
Mocked and turned away
With laughter into the night.
Those three I loved and lost;
But there was one who loved me
With all the fire of her heart.
Mine was the sacred altar
Where she burnt her life for my worship.
She was my slave, my servant;
Mine all she had, all she was,
All she could suffer, could be.
That was the love of my life,
I did not say, 'She loves me';
I was so used to her love
I never asked its name,
Till, feeling the wind blow cold
Where all the doors were left open,
And seeing a fireless hearth
And the garden deserted and weed-grown
That once was full of flowers for me,
I said, 'What has changed? What is it
That has made all the clocks stop?'
Thus I asked and they answered:
'It is thy mother who is dead.'
And now I am alone.
My son, too, some day will stand
Here, where I stand and weep.
He too will weep, knowing too late
The love that wrapped round his life.
Dear God spare him this:
Let him never know how I loved him,
For he was always weak.
He could not endure as I can.
Mother, my dear, ask God
To grant me this, for my son!
poem by Edith Nesbit
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Before The Cask of Wine
The spring wind comes from the east and quickly passes,
Leaving faint ripples in the wine of the golden bowl.
The flowers fall, flake after flake, myriads together.
You, pretty girl, wine-flushed,
Your rosy face is rosier still.
How long may the peach and plum trees flower
By the green-painted house?
The fleeting light deceives man,
Brings soon the stumbling age.
Rise and dance
In the westering sun
While the urge of youthful years is yet unsubdued!
What avails to lament after one's hair has turned white
like silken threads?
A Pantoum - What Flower Do I Want To Be?
What flower do i want to be?
I ask myself in garden of the world,
In front of it i humble contemplate,
Amazed by beautiness that lies in it.
I ask myself in garden of the world,
A rose with seductive suave fragrance i feel,
Amazed by beautiness that lies in it,
So romantic feelings the velvet rose petals awakes in me.
A rose with seductive suave fragrance i feel,
Or a chrysanthemum with charismatic perfume,
So romantic feelings the velvet rose petals awakes in me,
Such amazing pearl of autumn is the elegant chrysanthemum.
Or a chrysanthemum with charismatic perfume,
Or a tulip with perfect shapes and smooth lines,
Such amazing pearl of autumn is the elegant chrysanthemum,
Such a worthy tulip rising up like a pray towards the sun.
Or a tulip with perfect shapes and smooth lines,
Or another flowers with delicate design,
Such a worthy tulip rising up like a pray towards the sun,
So amazing flowers lies in front of me.
Or another flowers with delicate design,
Garden of the world is infinite,
Such amazing flowers lie in front of me,
From all of these beauties i wonder.
Garden of the world is infinite,
In front of it i humble contemplate,
From all of these beauties i wonder,
What flower do i want to be?
poem by Cristina Teodor
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The Way Lifes Meant To Be
Well, I came a long way to be here today
And I left you so long on this avenue
And here I stand in the strangest land
Not knowing what to say or do
As I gaze around at these strangers in town
I guess the only stranger is me
And I wonder (yes, I wonder)
Yes, I wonder (oh, I wonder)
Is this the way lifes meant to be?
Although its only a day since I was taken away
And left standing here looking in wonder
(its your life, its your life)
Ah, the ground at my feet, maybe its just the old street
But everything that I know lies under
(its your life, its your life)
And when I see what theyve done
To this place that was home
Shame is all that I feel
Oh, and I wonder (oh, I wonder)
Yes, I wonder (wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder)
Is this the way lifes meant to be?
Too late, too late to cry
The people say
Too late for you, too late for me
Youve come so far, now you know everything my friend
Look and see the wonders of our world...
And I wonder (oh, I wonder)
Yes, I wonder (yes, I wonder)
Is this the way lifes meant to be?
As I wander around this wreck of a town
Where people never speak aloud
With its ivory towers and its plastic flowers
I wish I was back in 1981
Just to see your face instead of this place
Now I know what you mean to me
And I wonder (oh, I wonder)
Yes, I wonder (yes, I wonder)
Is this the way lifes meant to be?
And I wonder (oh, I wonder)
Yes, I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder
Is this the way lifes meant to be?
Ooohh, I wonder
Oh, I wonder, wonder, wonder
Is this the way lifes meant to be?
Oh, is this the way lifes meant to be?
Mmmmm, is this the way lifes meant to be?
I wanna know now
Is this the way lifes meant to be?
song performed by by Electric Light Orchestra
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Ave
PRELUDE TO 'ILLUSTRATED POEMS'
FULL well I know the frozen hand has come
That smites the songs of grove and garden dumb,
And chills sad autumn's last chrysanthemum;
Yet would I find one blossom, if I might,
Ere the dark loom that weaves the robe of white
Hides all the wrecks of summer out of sight.
Sometimes in dim November's narrowing day,
When all the season's pride has passed away,
As mid the blackened stems and leaves we stray,
We spy in sheltered nook or rocky cleft
A starry disk the hurrying winds have left,
Of all its blooming sisterhood bereft.
Some pansy, with its wondering baby eyes
Poor wayside nursling!--fixed in blank surprise
At the rough welcome of unfriendly skies;
Or golden daisy,--will it dare disclaim
The lion's tooth, to wear this gentler name?
Or blood-red salvia, with its lips aflame.
The storms have stripped the lily and the rose,
Still on its cheek the flush of summer glows,
And all its heart-leaves kindle as it blows.
So had I looked some bud of song to find
The careless winds of autumn left behind,
With these of earlier seasons' growth to bind.
Ah me! my skies are dark with sudden grief,
A flower lies faded on my garnered sheaf;
Yet let the sunshine gild this virgin leaf,
The joyous, blessed sunshine of the past,
Still with me, though the heavens are overcast,--
The light that shines while life and memory last.
Go, pictured rhymes, for loving readers meant;
Bring back the smiles your jocund morning lent,
And warm their hearts with sunbeams yet unspent!
poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Out Of Season
I found out just a little too late.
I had my doubt, but I decided to wait.
Even though I could feel somethin comin
It came as such a surprise.
I should have known when you first started
Runnin away before my eyes.
Im so out of season
You left me cold and Im standin here freezin.
Im so out of season now.
I lost out.
I wasnt playing to win.
And I think about
How I just took it all in.
Just when I thought
I couldnt get any higher
You cut me down to size.
I should have noticed
When you put out the fire.
Instead, I just closed my eyes.
Im so out of season.
You left me cold and Im standin here freezin.
Im so out of season now.
Im so out of season
You let me go and you gave me no reason.
Im so out of season now.
song performed by by Reo Speedwagon
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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You Were There
By eric clapton
We made the distance,
Yeah, we made the day.
You made all the difference
'cause you found the way.
Without your wisdom
Lord, where would we be
Lost in the wilderness,
Somewhere out at sea.
But you were there
Through the days of wine and madness,
When i'd always put you down.
You were there
Through my joys and my sadness
And you never let me down.
You found the meaning
And helped me to see
Where i was going to
All that i could be.
Without permission
You turned the key.
You climbed the prison wall
Deep inside of me.
You were there
Through the days of wine and madness
When i'd turn and put, put you down.
You were there
Through my joys and my sadness
And you never let me down.
You were there
Through the days of wine and madness
When i'd turn and put, put you down.
You were there
Through my joys and my sadness
And you never let me down.
Let me down.
You were there.
You were there.
You were there.
song performed by by Eric Clapton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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It Could Be Sweet
I dont want to hurt you
For no reason have I but fear
And I aint guilty of the crimes you accuse me of
But Im guilty of fear
Im sorry to remind
You but Im scared of what were creating
This life aint fair
You dont get something for nothing, turn now
Mmmm gotta try a little harder
It could be sweet
Like a long forgotten dream
And we dont need them to cast the fate we have
Love dont always shine thru
Cos I dont wanna lose
What we had last time your leaving this life aint fair
You dont get something for nothing, turn now
Mmmm gotta try a little harder
It could be sweet.....
But the thoughts we try to deny
Take a toll upon our lives
We struggle on in depths of pride
Tangled up in single minds
Cos I dont wanna lose
What we had last time your leaving this life aint fair
You dont get something for nothing, turn back
Mmmm gotta try a little harder
Cos I dont wanna lose
What we had last time your leaving this life aint fair
You dont get something for nothing, turn back
Mmmm gotta try a little harder
It could be sweet
song performed by by Portishead
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Blue Season
Snow in springtime, storm in the sea
Mist at my window, no leaf on my tree
Showers in the garden with no flowers to touch
When will you bring us your sunshine and such.
Season tell me true
Whats been wrong with you
Wont you turn again
Blow away the rain
Blue season, turn away.
Wind in the evening, dust in your eye
Heart full of shadow and cloud in your sky
Everythings wrong and you know youre to blame
Nothing will change while youre still the same
Cold in the city, tears on the street
Faces are empty in those that you meet
Lovers and losers who fail in the night
When will it be that youll treat them right.
Season tell me true
How much do we need you
Wont you turn your wheel
Hide your heart of steel
Blue season, turn away.
Countries and people caught in the rain
When will they learn to feel fine again
Wandering lost now for nothing is clear
Waiting for signs of the turn of the year.
Season tell me true
Whats been wrong with you
Wont you turn again
Blow away in the rain
Blue season, turn away.
song performed by by Nick Drake
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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10 Days
Having been born in my own yard
I never knew a reason to leave.
But when a flower from the other side of the fence called my name
it brought me to consider.
But the prospect seemed ludicrous-
I shall stay on my side of the fence.
Upon closer look the beautiful flower again called my name
I saw the petals were smooth and green.
So I jumped the fence, and tried to place myself in the ground next to the flower
laboriously digging all around it, trying to become one with it.
The following 3 days, while I dug, the beautiful flower withered in the hot wind and on the fourth crumbled beside me.
Feeling compelled to myself wither and crumble with guilt
on the other side of the garden another flower called
feeling hopeless and tormented I followed the voice for four more days until I came upon the flower
standing alone on parched soil, famished and dying.
Suffocating in my own misery
for 2 days I attempted to penetrate through the dry, cracked ground to bind myself to this lone, beautiful flower I found among weeds and sticks
and eventually dug this flower up as well, which too died
I thought about where to go from here
but so weakened I myself began to wither and crack.
10 days after leaving my yard
my skin flaked off
my teeth fell out
my bones became ashes.
poem by Louie Vizcarra
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Passing
The change, it comes so slowly
Like the winter of our lives,
It encroaches while we're playing,
While we're laughing with our wives,
As the children wave goodbye
The first brief chill will still the air,
And that silence settles on us
As they turn, and close the door.
Then we stare long at each other
But we find no words to say,
You have been the faithful mother
That I married, back some way,
But I see your smile has faded
With the passing of the years,
And you turn your face away so I
Won't see that trace of tears.
Are you thinking of that moment
When you held that new born child,
Of the joy of those first steps, or of
The day your baby smiled?
And the schooling and the learning
And the knees they brought home skinned,
Or the pride you took each time you watched
That graduation film.
While I find my own thoughts turning
To those days before we wed,
To your awesome, breathless beauty
As you passed, and turned my head,
Of that first-time kiss I savoured
Out beneath the apple tree,
When I took you to my heart, and you
First said you wanted me.
Now we're grey, and more like shadows
Since the lust in us has died,
And we rarely touch each other
Since we turned to ash inside,
For the years of work and struggle
Took their toll on you and I,
And I hear you every evening as
You go outside to cry.
All those dreams that ended shattered,
All those hopes that turned to tears,
Here we sit, both disillusioned
With the tolling of the years,
And we pass our friends unseeing
As we wander in the street,
We are ghosts, a long time passing
Now our story is complete.
We are like the leaves of autumn
That have fallen from the trees,
Blowing through our days unspoken
With each passing, gentle breeze,
We will fade and be forgotten
In the long term way of things,
But we'll cling in desperation for
What each last moment brings.
25 November 2012
poem by David Lewis Paget
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Sadness Of Loneliness
THE SADNESS OF LONELINESS
The sadness of loneliness-
I had forgotten it-
I have been away for a long time
But now in the late afternoon
In the quiet and emptiness
Of the usually bustling streets
It comes back to me quietly-
The sadness of loneliness
That we are alone in the world
Each one of us alone
And that sometimes no matter
Where we are
We remember it-
The sadness of loneliness
A Quiet sadness
A sad sadness
A lonely sadness
Alone.
poem by Shalom Freedman
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The First of May ( A Memory)
THE WATERS make a music low:
The river reeds
Are trembling to the tunes of long ago—
Dead days and deeds
Become alive again, as on
I float, and float,
Through shadows of the golden summers gone
And springs remote.
Above my head the trees bloom out
In white and red
Great blossoms, that make glad the air about;
And old suns shed
Their rays athwart them. Ah, the light
Is bright and fair!
No suns that shine upon me now are bright
As those suns were.
And, gazing down into the stream,
I see a face,
As sweet as buds that blossom in a dream,
Ere sorrows chase
Fair dreams from men, and send in lieu
Sad thoughts. A wreath
Of blue-bells binds the head—a bluer blue
The eyes beneath.
This is my little Annie’s face;
My child-sweetheart
Whom long ago I lost in that dark place
Where all lives part.
Beside me still I see her stand,
Who is no more.
She walked with me through childhood, hand in hand,
But at the door
Of youth departed from me. Fain
Was I that day
To go with her. Ah, sweetheart, come again
This First of May!
poem by Victor James Daley
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Autumn in the Garden
When the frosty kiss of Autumn in the dark
Makes its mark
On the flowers, and the misty morning grieves
Over fallen leaves;
Then my olden garden, where the golden soil
Through the toil
Of a hundred years is mellow, rich, and deep,
Whispers in its sleep.
'Mid the crumpled beds of marigold and phlox,
Where the box
Borders with its glossy green the ancient walks,
There's a voice that talks
Of the human hopes that bloomed and withered here
Year by year,--
Dreams of joy, that brightened all the labouring hours,
Fading as the flowers.
Yet the whispered story does not deepen grief;
But relief
For the loneliness of sorrow seems to flow
From the Long-Ago,
When I think of other lives that learned, like mine,
To resign,
And remember that the sadness of the fall
Comes alike to all.
What regrets, what longings for the lost were theirs!
And what prayers
For the silent strength that nerves us to endure
Things we cannot cure!
Pacing up and down the garden where they paced,
I have traced
All their well-worn paths of patience, till I find
Comfort in my mind.
Faint and far away their ancient griefs appear:
Yet how near
Is the tender voice, the careworn, kindly face,
Of the human race!
Let us walk together in the garden, dearest heart,
Not apart!
They who know the sorrows other lives have known
Never walk alone.
poem by Henry Van Dyke
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Our Indian Summer
You 'll believe me, dear boys, 't is a pleasure to rise,
With a welcome like this in your darling old eyes;
To meet the same smiles and to hear the same tone
Which have greeted me oft in the years that have flown.
Were I gray as the grayest old rat in the wall,
My locks would turn brown at the sight of you all;
If my heart were as dry as the shell on the sand,
It would fill like the goblet I hold in my hand.
There are noontides of autumn when summer returns.
Though the leaves are all garnered and sealed in their urns,
And the bird on his perch, that was silent so long,
Believes the sweet sunshine and breaks into song.
We have caged the young birds of our beautiful June;
Their plumes are still bright and their voices in tune;
One moment of sunshine from faces like these
And they sing as they sung in the green-growing trees.
The voices of morning! how sweet is their thrill
When the shadows have turned, and the evening grows still!
The text of our lives may get wiser with age,
But the print was so fair on its twentieth page!
Look off from your goblet and up from your plate,
Come, take the last journal, and glance at its date:
Then think what we fellows should say and should do,
If the 6 were a 9 and the 5 were a 2.
Ah, no! for the shapes that would meet with as here,
From the far land of shadows, are ever too dear!
Though youth flung around us its pride and its charms,
We should see but the comrades we clasped in our arms.
A health to our future--a sigh for our past,
We love, we remember, we hope to the last;
And for all the base lies that the almanacs hold,
While we've youth in our hearts we can never grow old!
poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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