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PASSING AWAY.
"The fashion of this world passeth away."—I CORINTHIANS, VII, 31.
A Rose upon her mossy stem, Fair Queen of Flora's gay domain, All graceful wore her diadem, The brightest 'mid the brilliant train; But evening came, with frosty breath, And, ere the quick return of day, Her beauties, in the blight of death, Had pass'd away.
I saw, when morning gemmed the sky, A fair young creature gladly rove, Her moving lip was melody, Her varying smile the charm of love; At eve I came—but on her bed She drooped, with forehead pale as clay— "What dost thou here?"—she faintly said, "Passing away."