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DARK THOUGHTS, by                    
First Line: Ah! Is this, then, the common lot
Last Line: Of life, where love is not a dream!
Alternate Author Name(s): Ianthe


AH! is this, then, the common lot --
The end of earthly love and trust?
To be by cherished ones forgot,
When the frail body sleeps in dust?
Shall hearts, which now with love run o'er,
Retain for us no deeper trace
Than leaves the foot-print on the shore,
Which the next wavelet may efface?

Shall those who once could only live
Within the sunshine of our smile,
To whom existence could not give
A joy unshared by us the while:
Shall they 'mid other joys live on,
And form anew affection's tie,
When we from earth's delights are gone,
For ever hid from human eye?

Ay, thus it is th' eternal laws
That rule our nature are obeyed:
Not in mid conflict may we pause
To linger long where love is laid,
We pile the turf above the breast
Which pillowed oft our aching head,
Then turn, and leave unto its rest
Our buried, half-forgotten dead.

Tears -- the heart's desolating rain,
Awhile upon our path may fall,
But hope's sweet sunshine smiles again
On all things save the funeral pall: --
Anon the dirge's mournful measure
Is changed to some less saddening strain,
And soon the echoing voice of pleasure
Tells Love and Grief alike were vain.

We form new schemes of future bliss,
New flowers spring up to cheer our way,
And scarcely from our side we miss
The partners of life's earlier day;
Alas! how vain our noblest feelings,
How idle would affection seem,
Did not God give us bright revealings
Of Life, where Love is not a dream!





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