265 POETRY OF FLOWERS 
How lapse our years away! how fade 
The raptures of the mind ! 
Onward up pass the storm and shade, 
And leave blue skies behind ; 
Like yellow leaves, around us fall 
The friends best loved and known; 
And, when we most have need of ali, 
We oft are most alone, 
Still more alone ! blithe Spring comes round ; 
Rich Summer circles by; 
And Autumn paints with gold the ground, 
Till Winter’s storm-blasts fly. 
One after one, friends drop away, 
As year on year rolls on; 
| And month by month, and day by day, 
| The old are more nee 
Still more alone! alas! ’tis vain 
New hopes, new hearts to find g 
What magic can restore again 
| Youth’s ee d mind ? 



Age walks amid an alter’d world, 
At 
Mid bustling er aan unknown 
New scenes hath novelty unfurl’d, 
And left the old alone, 

Sere leaves that dangle from Life’s tres” — 
Thus speaks the hoary head— 
“A relic of the past are Wes 
A remnant of the dead; 


— EEE 
