Elegy

Of madness years the faded joy and laughter
Weigh gravely like a hazy morning after.
And yet the sorrows of the finished page,
Like fancy wine, still stronger get with age.
My way lies dreary. Work and grief are written
In what’s to come, which like the sea is smitten.

But, o my friends, crave dying I do not;
I long to live for wretchedness and thought,
And I do know, there will come time for gladness
Amidst the anguish, daily charge, and sadness:
I'll bare my soul for harmony to sweep;
Upon a fiction, heavy tears I’ll weep;
And, it could be, my sunset’s melancholy
One final smile of love will lighten, jolly.