Disappointment

I awoke at the dawn of a school holiday,
And the heavens with clouds were o’ercast;
And I prayed for the sunlight’s tiniest ray,
But the rain fell heavy and fast,
Then I calmed my heart with the hope that soon
It would clear; and the sun at last
I saw, and I hoped, but alas! at noon
The rain fell heavy and fast.
Now faster and faster poured the rain,
Still I hoped through the storm and the blast;
And the night came frowning; my hopes were vain,
For the rain fell heavy and fast.
Ah! my holiday fled on her own rainy wind,
And my hopes followed close on her flight;
But the cold disappointment still clouded my mind
Which had chilled me from morning till night.
Then I thought “It is thus with full many a life;
Each hope comes and goes like a breath;
And the mortal toils on with vain hope through the strife,
From childhood to manhood and death.”