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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
OUR YEARS, by EDWARD NOYES POMEROY
First Line: As a sigh! As sweet and as sad
Last Line: And there with our years we return.
Subject(s): Old Age
First Line: As a sigh! As sweet and as sad
Last Line: And there with our years we return.
Subject(s): Old Age
As a sigh! As sweet and as sad;
A fugitive heritage they:
A moment to grieve and be glad:
Our years that are passing away!
A sigh, and a smile, and a sigh:
A balance of sorrow and mirth:
A birth, and a break, and to die
And vanish forever from earth.
To wake, and to sleep, and to wake:
To sleep, and to wake, and to sleep:
A bubble to rise and to break
And melt in the measureless deep!
Our years! but a gleam and a gloom;
A twilight with twilight to blend:
A flash to the shadows illume
That childhood and age comprehend!
Our years! but a gloom and a gleam;
A splendor that is and is not:
A dream that is dreamed of a dream:
A tale that is told and forgot!
O what then is being? and why
Is time with mortality rife?
If man is to breathe but to die,
Then what is the meaning of life?
Our God, 'tis from Thee we are come:
For Being immortal we yearn;
Not here but beyond is our home,
And there with our years we return.
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