_Ere_ I was old? Ah woful Ere, Which tells me Youth 's no longer here! O Youth! for years so many and sweet, 25 'Tis known, that thou and I were one, I'll think it but a fond conceit-- It cannot be that thou art gone! Thy vesper-bell hath not yet tolled:-- And thou wert aye a masker bold! 30 What strange disguise hast now put on, To _make believe_, that thou art gone? I see these locks in silvery slips, This drooping gait, this altered size: But Spring-tide blossoms on thy lips, 35 And tears take sunshine from thine eyes! Life is but thought: so think I will That Youth and I are house-mates still. Dew-drops are the gems of morning, But the tears of mournful eve! 40 Where no hope is, life 's a warning That only serves to make us grieve, When we are old: That only serves to make us grieve With oft and tedious taking-leave, 45 Like some poor nigh-related guest, That may not rudely be dismist; Yet hath outstayed his welcome while, And tells the jest without the smile. WORK WITHOUT HOPE LINES COMPOSED 21ST FEBRUARY 1827 All Nature seems at work. Slugs leave their lair-- The bees are stirring--birds are on the wing-- And Winter slumbering in the open air, Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring! And I the while, the sole unbusy thing, 5 Nor honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing. Yet well I ken the banks where amaranths blow, Have traced the fount whence streams of nectar flow. Bloom, O ye amaranths! bloom for whom ye may, For me ye bloom not! Glide, rich streams, away! 10 With lips unbrightened, wreathless brow, I stroll: And would you learn the spells that drowse my soul? Work without Hope draws nectar in a sieve, And Hope without an object cannot live. EPITAPH Stop, Christian passer-by!--Stop, child of God, And read with gentle breast. Beneath this sod A poet lies, or that which once seemed he.-- O, lift one thought in prayer for S.T.C.; That he who many a year with toil of breath 5 Found death in life, may here find life in death! Mercy for praise--to be forgiven for fame He ask'd, and hoped, through Christ. Do thou the same! NOTES THE ANCIENT MARINER