“All life is built from song”
In youth’s young morn I sang;
And from a top-near hill
The echo broke and rang.
The years with pinions swift
To youth’s high noon made flight,
“All life is built from song”
I sang amid the fight.
To life’s sun-setting years,
My feet have come—Alas!
And through its hopes and fears
Again I shall not pass.
The lusty song my youth
With high-heart ardor sang
Is but a tinkling sound—
A cymbal’s empty clang.
And now I sing, my Dear,
With wisdom’s wiser heart,
“All life is built from love,
And song is but a part.”
This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on June 27, 2020 by the Academy of American Poets.