Select Poetry.

Thames Star, Volume xv, Issue 4767, 19 April 1884, Page 1

Select Poetry.

AN AUTUMN LOVE;

Oh! life was sweet when we both were young, And the fond word slipped from the ready tongue, And I loved you —loved you dearly; When just each other was all we had. And I was a young girl, fair and glad; And you were a gay and handsome lad; My own! my own! so nearly. Oh! life was sweet when we both were young, And heart with heart in a rapture clung, And love had a springtime glory; When nothing but joy was ever plann'd, And sunshine flooded the pleasant land, And we walked together hand in hand, Telling the old sweet story. I know not, dear, how> the sorrow came ; I cannot tell who was most to blame— But the parting words were spoken: . The words that sent me away from thee. I followed a woeful destiny, Went weeping over the wide, wide sea, And felt that my heart was broken. I came in the autumn time of life,. After the struggle and tears and strife, After the"-death and sorrow, I came again to the dear old place: And low! I saw in t;hy bending face, The dawn of a late but loving grace, The hope of a glad to-morrow. Oh! love is sweet in the autumn time, 'Tis sweeter far than in early prime, We rest in its tender glory: Parted, our souls have never been twain, The sea and the years have been in vain, Happily now we are telling again The same old golden story. We are growing old, we are turning grey, But Love has not aged a single day, Love never will age; no never; Years could not separate Thee and Me, The stress of life, nor the sundering sea; We two shall love wherever we be, Shall love, shall love forever!

Lillie E. Bark.