The Day Beyond

When youth is with us, all things seem But lightly to be wished and won; We snare to-morrow in a dream, And take our toll for work undone; “For life is long and time a stream That sleeps and sparkles in the sun-- What need of any haste?” we say, “To-morrow’s longer than to-day.”

And when to-morrow shall destroy The heaven of our dreams, in vain Our hurrying manhood we employ To build the vanished bliss again; We have no leisure to enjoy, “So few the years that yet remain, So much to do, and ah!” we say, “To-morrow’s shorter than to-day.”

But when our hands are worn and weak, And still our labours seem unblest, And time goes past us like a bleak Last twilight waning to the west, “It is not here--the bliss we seek, Too brief is life for happy rest; What need of any haste?” we say, “To-morrow’s longer than to-day.”