The Reverse

Life was to me a summer day,So full of youth and bloom,Of light and lovliness; and earth,A garden of perfume.

I knew not that those sunny hoursCould be by storms o'ercast;I did but dream that gentle showersWould fall—too light to last.

And yet I've lived to see that skyBy tempests wildly riven:To see earth's flow'rets fade and die,Before the whirlwind driven.

To mourn, with anguish'd heart, the wreckOf all that made life fair;To feel that roses oft may deckThe forehead of despair.