Reflections of the Past Year

Reflections of the Past Year

THE year hath gone, and in its stead,
Prolific Time another brings
To cheat us with its noisome tread,
As hope doth with her whisperings.

Cast back the retrospective eye,
And view the deep inscribed part,
Then tell of its variety,
What are the joys that purely last.

We've revel'd in the blithesome dance;
We've drain'd the Lithean cup of wine;
And Beauty! when thou didst advance,
We bask'd in brightest rays of thine.

The dance amused the changing mind,
A moment with cheerful glee;
The heart grew sick, soon that resign'd,
And sought its cure, oh, wine in thee.

We sipp'd with joy the rich Champaigne
That sparkled to the overflowing brim;
And drown'd all thoughts, both grave and vain,
E'en Reason in the interim.

But soberness in turn must come,
And its precursors, headachs, qualms
Which cause feelings quite like some
I've had at sea 'mid storms and calms.

Next Beauty! ah, how sweet they smile,
We liv'd emparadised in bliss,
Till time prov'd ev'ry one a wile,
Which lur'd to ruin, wretchedness.

Then say, what gave the bosom peace,
Or joy less transient than we found
In dance, in woman, wine? th' increase
Was from that source which will abound.

It sprang, divinest light, from thee!
Resplendent virtue! from thy throne;
And when all transient pleasures flee,
In serving thee, this peace is known

'Tis not a fitful, changing glow,
This sacred power within the breast;
It gives us happiness below,
A home among the ramsom'd blest.

Arion

1:43, p. 172

1828.01.18