Book 2 — FADED AND GONE.
Reading edition
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BY MISS S. J. C. WHITTLESEY.
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Faded and gone are the Summer’s sweet flowers,
Strewn by the wintry winds o’er the dark mould!
Smilers, when sunlight stole through the soft hours,
Down from yon azure their leaves to unfold.
Bright were their beauties when breezes swept on
O’er the blue waters to gather perfume;
Whisperers lovely, now faded and gone!
Slumberers lonely ’mid dullness and gloom!
Oh! but the Spring-time will come o’er the plain
Wooing the whispering blossoms again,
With its soft tread o’er the emerald lawn—
Then we’ll not mourn for the faded and gone!
Faded and gone are the ones that we cherished,
Fondly and true, in our bosoms of yore!
Slumbering buds may awake o’er the perished,
Their faded hearts shall unfold here no more!
Sweet is the music that Memory flings
O’er the oasis of Life’s early love,
Where flew the Angel on fluttering wings,
Bearing our lost through the starlight above;
Oh! there’s a land where the perished ones bloom,
Where cometh never a shadow of gloom!
Fadeless and fair is that glorious dawn—
Then we’ll not mourn for the faded and gone!
Faded and gone are the sweet dreams of childhood,
When the young wings of the Spirit were free,
Folded or furled ’mid the shadowy wildwood—
Sweeping the surface of life’s sunny sea.
Time’s fading finger hath sullied the leaf,
Stainless and lovely in childhood’s pure years;
Pages of beauty once brilliant, yet brief,
Wear its deep impress of changes and tears!
Oh! but the blossoms of childhood will bloom
Brightly again, o’er the shadowy Tomb!
Infinite gladness flow endlessly on—
Then we’ll not murmur for the faded and gone!