Tis Hard

'Tis hard that the full summer of our round Is but the turn where winter's sign-post's writ; That to have reached the best is leaving it; That final loss bears date from having found. So some proud vessel in a narrow sound Sails at high water with the fair wind fit, And lo! the ebb along the sandy spit, Lower and lower till she jars, aground. 'Tis hard. We are young still but more content; 'Tis our ripe flush, the heyday of our prime; We learn full breath, how rich of the air we are! But suddenly we note a touch of time, A little fleck that scarcely seems to mar; And we know then that some time since youth went.