THE SADDEST THOUGHT.

Sad is the wane of beauty to the fair,

Sad is the flux of fortune to the proud,

Sad is the look dejected lovers wear,

And sad is worth beneath detraction's cloud.

Sad is our youth's inexorable end,

Sad is the bankruptcy of fancy's wealth,

Sad is the last departure of a friend,

And sadder than most things is loss of health.

And yet more sad than these to think upon

Is this — the saddest thought beneath the sun —

Life, flowing like a river, almost gone

Into eternity, and nothing done.

Let me be spared that bootless last regret:

Let me work now; I may do something yet.