A Parallel

Time has passed, since Shadows trembled to watch Twilight sweep the earth For the phantoms to trip and mince.

A dark breeze the forest-heart stirs; Yet merry the face of the sky-- Twinkling in joy Its innumerable eyes, the stars.

Hushed the music within; Pleasure's silver laugh, dead; Thought lost in reverie-- Reverie receding into nothing.

The taper of dreams flickers Out, leaving the soul in dusk By the altar of love, Flower-laden as the night with stars.

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"Nothing endures," you said; "None can die," quoth love; "In the firmament of loving No stars set, no meteors fall."

Yet, nothing endures, nothing, Naught but dust; Naught but regret and vain desire The twin monuments of life,

Reared by time, by wrecking All that we seek and find. Its relentless waves of years Break even the impregnable wall of memory That thought builds On the embankment of hope.

Pass all away, even we who loved, Dreamt as none dreamt before-- Borne by the tide of life-- But, lo! from our defeated destiny Rise our seeds reared by time Consecrated to love and living!

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