The Ivy on the Wall
The verdant ivy clings aroundYon moss be-mantled wall,As if it sought to hide the stones,That crumbling soon must fall:That relic of a bygone ageNow tottering to decay,Has but one friend—the ivy—left.The rest have passed away.
The fairy flowers that once did bloomAnd smile beneath its shade;They lingered till the autumn came,And autumn saw them fade:The emerald leaves that blushed between—The winds away have blown;But yet to cheer the mournful scene,The ivy liveth on.
Thus heavenly hope will still survive,When earthly joys have fled;And all the flow’ry dreams of youthLie withering and dead.When Winter comes—it twines itselfAround the human heart;And like the ivy on the wallWill ne’er from thence depart.