Peering Into the Abyss

A timely poem:

And art thou gone, sweet Youth? Say Nay!
 For thou dost know what power was thine,
That thou couldst give vain shadows flesh,
 And laughter without any wine,
From the heart fresh?

And art thou gone, sweet Youth? Say Nay!
 Not left me to Time's cruel spite;
He'll pull my teeth out one by one,
 He'll paint my hair first grey, then white,
He'll scrape my bone.

And art thou gone, sweet Youth? Alas!
 For ever gone! I know it well;
Earth has no atom, nor the sky,
 That has not thrown the kiss Farewell—
Sweet Youth, Good-Bye!

--W.H. Davies