Time's Painted Veil

Now lay thee down, oh faded crown

Of hill and hollow beaming

Where shadow fills the shallow rills

Of dawn to dusk soft gleaming

The daffodil that roused a thrill

Leading a troupe of flowers

Returns to dust as all life must

‘Neath the command of hours

This home-sweet-home beneath a dome

Of universal thunder

Bears bloom-belled grass and boys that pass

To manhood as we wonder

And oft exclaim how quickly came

That foreign Far we pondered

As fain we yearn for the return

Of Fortunes that we squandered

The vanity of what we see

Entertains as it severs

This delicate mortality

To consummate Forever

Ah, flesh and blood, be not our god

Nor vainglory our passion

Time’s painted veil is framed to fail

Its cap-sheaf a sad fortune

Now lay thee down on fell wind-blown

Futile to beg and barter

Or think to change or rearrange

Time’s elemental charter

This sprinkling of flowers we love

Falls fondly through our fingers

Earth’s cradle- grave consumes its wave

Only the soul yet lingers

© Janet Martin

The signs are everywhere...Time is a painted veil.