Let's take this world as some wide scene.

  Thro' which in frail but buoyant boat,

With skies now dark and now serene,

  Together thou and I must float;

Beholding oft on either shore

  Bright spots where we should love to stay;

But Time plies swift his flying oar,

  And away we speed, away, away.

Should chilling winds and rains come on,

  We'll raise our awning 'gainst the shower;

Sit closer till the storm is gone,

  And, smiling, wait a sunnier hour.

And if that sunnier hour should shine,

  We'll know its brightness cannot stay,

But happy while 'tis thine and mine,

  Complain not when it fades away.

So shall we reach at last that Fall

  Down which life's currents all must go,—

The dark, the brilliant, destined all

  To sink into the void below.

Nor even that hour shall want its charms,

  If, side by side, still fond we keep,

And calmly, in each other's arms

  Together linked, go down the steep.