The Ivy On The Wall

THE VERDANT ivy clings around Yon moss be-mantled wall, As if it sought to hide the stones, That crumbling soon must fall: That relic of a bygone age Now tottering to decay, Has but one friend—the ivy—left. The rest have passed away. The fairy flowers that once did bloom And 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 youth Lie withering and dead. When Winter comes—it twines itself Around the human heart; And like the ivy on the wall Will ne’er from thence depart.