Two Lives.

Two infants in their cradles lie,             Where lullabies of peace         In gentle strains of tender music die.             And carols never cease.         Two urchins o'er the meadow lands             Are bounding in their plays,         Where sweet enjoyment with angelic hands             Winds gladness o'er the days.         Two boys, where golden fancies bless,             Repose in sunny beams,         And muse away the hours of happiness             On couches made of dreams.         Two men upon a summer sea             Are toiling, brave and strong,         Where pleasures roll their elfin harmony             And labor ends in song.         Two gray-haired sages, silvered o'er,             In life meet once again,         To name the wondrous happiness they bore             Among their fellow-men.         Two graves forever hide the twain             Who found, in all their years,         No secret shadows, where unbroken pain             Held fountains full of tears.         Two lives have passed from human reach,             And few have heard of them,         But joy had not been better served if each             Had worn a diadem.         Ah, bosoms here are strangely blest             With perfect bliss that glows,         And he above all others lives the best,             Who has the fewest woes!