River of Life, The

Thomas Campbell 1777 (Glasgow) – 1844 (Boulogne-sur-Mer)



The more we live, more brief appear
Our life's succeeding stages;
A day to childhood seems a year,
And years like passing ages.

The gladsome current of our youth,
Ere passion yet disorders,
Steals lingering like a river smooth
Along its grassy borders.

But as the careworn cheek grows wan,
And sorrow's shafts fly thicker,
Ye stars, that measure life to man,
Why seem your courses quicker?

When joys have lost their bloom and breath,
And life itself is vapid,
Why, as we reach the Falls of Death
Feel we its tide more rapid?

It may be strange—yet who would change
Time's course to slower speeding,
When one by one our friends have gone,
And left our bosoms bleeding?

Heaven gives our years of fading strength
Indemnifying fleetness;
And those of youth, a seeming length,
Proportion'd to their sweetness.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

43 sec read
124

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB XCXC XDXD EXEX XFXF GBGX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 807
Words 141
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Thomas Campbell

Thomas Campbell was an Irish Protestant clergyman, best known as a travel writer and for his accounts of the circle of Samuel Johnson. more…

All Thomas Campbell poems | Thomas Campbell Books

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