How Sweet Are The Hopes And The Pleasures Of Youth

By  Anne S. Bushby

How sweet are the hopes and the pleasures of youth,
Ere misfortune has blighted their springs to the heart,
Ere the seeds of suspicion, and envy, and art,
Have supplanted the feelings of candour and truth!

In life’s joyous morning, how glowing, how bright,
Are the dreams of the future–by Fancy inspired!
Like bubbles, that ere they are form’d have expired,
So vanish its sorrows, as transient, as light.

But soon, oh! too soon, must these feelings decay,
The storms of the world they can never survive;
And alas! when once gone they can never revive
To soothe or to brighten life’s desolate way!

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