Reverses

WHEN mirth is full and free,  
 Some sudden gloom shall be;  
 When haughty power mounts high,  
 The Watcher’s axe is nigh.  
All growth has bound; when greatest found,
 It hastes to die.  
 
 When the rich town, that long  
 Has lain its huts among,  
 Uprears its pageants vast,  
 And vaunts—it shall not last!
Bright tints that shine are but a sign  
 Of summer past.  
 
 And when thine eye surveys,  
 With fond adoring gaze,  
 And yearning heart, thy friend,
 Love to its grave doth tend.  
All gifts below, save Truth, but grow  
 Towards an end.