Massachusetts Spy And Worcester Advertiser

[FOR THE MASSACHUSETTS SPY.]

We all do fade as a leaf.—Isaiah.

How rapidly time glides away!
Our being how transient and brief!
'Tis hardly a moment we stay,
Before we decay as the leaf.

Now Autumn reminds us once more,
That nature is fading and brief;
That shortly our day will be o'er,
When we too must fade as the leaf.

In infancy, childhood, and youth,
We banish reflection and grief;
And seldom will list to the truth,
That all must decay as the leaf.

Yet oft in those seasons we see,
(But lately 'twas witness'd with grief,)
The youngest is taken of three,
To show us we fade as the leaf.

Though many to manhood attain,
Unbroken by sorrow and grief,
Yet age is attended with pain,
And shortly we fade as the leaf.

The few, that arrive at four score,
Are commonly palsied and deaf:
Their sight oft has left them before,
Thus fading away as the leaf.

The longer we live on the earth,
The stronger will be our belief,
That all men are doom'd from their birth,
To fade and decay as the leaf.

How man can be thoughtless and gay,
Surpasses almost our belief;
When thousands remind us each day,
That soon we must fade as the leaf.

To day bless'd with health and caress'd,
We are strangers to sorrow and grief;
But oft, ere the sun gilds the west,
We suddenly fade as the leaf.

Ye sinners, who virtue forsake
For pleasures delusive and brief,
Consider your awful mistake,
Before you decay as the leaf.

Lorenzo, the blooming and gay,
Of sinners was reckon'd the chief;
Like you he went heedless astray,
Nor thought he should fade as the leaf.

To him splendid talents were lent,
Whose loss overwhelmed him with grief;
He saw 'twas too late to repent,
When told he must fade as the leaf.

Then raising his eyes in despair,
He look'd like the penitent thief:
But ere he could utter a prayer,
He faded away as the leaf.

Last night he this world bade adieu;
His friends had long watch'd him with grief
His end was too shocking to view,
He fell like a frost-bitten leaf

Let youth then no longer pursue
A course that will plunge them in grief,
But constantly keep it in view,
That soon they must fade as the leaf.

In childhood let virtue be sown,
Lest manhood be poison'd with grief,
Or age overtake you too soon,
And cause you to fade as the leaf.

Though none are exempt from the fate,
Which spreads such destruction and grief,
But all must submit soon or late,
And fade and decay as the leaf:

Yet let us not grieve and repine,
Because our existence is brief,
Religion has comforts divine,
Which never can fade as the leaf.

She bids us this world to resign,
And yield her our fullest belief,
Then in heaven like stars we shall shine,
No more to decay as the leaf.

F.