The American Vocalist ‎#285b

285b. Hail ye sighing sons of sorrow

1 Hail, ye sighing sons of sorrow,
View with me th’autumnal gloom,
Learn from thence your fate, to-morrow
Dead, perhaps laid in the tomb!
See all nature fading, dying,
Silent, all things seem to mourn,
Life from vegetation flying,
Brings to mind the mould’ring urn.

2 Oft autumnal tempests rising
Makes the lofty forest nod,
Scenes of nature, how surprising!
Read in nature, nature’s God.
See the God, the great Creator,
Lives eternal in the sky,
While we mortals yield to nature,
Bloom awhile, then fade and die.

3 Sorrow now my mind depresses,
Autumn shows me my decay;
Brings to mind my past distresses,
Warns me of a dying day.
Autumn makes me melancholy,
Strikes dejection through my soul,
While I mourn my former folly,
Waves of sorrow o'er me roll.

4 What to me are autumn's treasures,
Since I know no earthly joy?
Long I've lost all youthful pleasures,
Time must youth and health destroy.
Age and sorrow now have blasted
Every youthful, pleasing dream;
Quivering age with youth contrasted,
Oh how short life's glories seem!

5 Former friends, how oft I’ve sought them!
Just to cheer my drooping mind,
But they’re gone like leaves in autumn,
Driven before the dreary wind.
As the annual frosts are cropping
Leaves and tendrils from the trees,
So my friends are yearly dropping,
Through old age and dire disease.

6 Fast my sun of life's declining,
I must sleep in death's dark night:
But my hope, pure and refining,
Rests in future life and light.
When a few more years I've wasted,
When a few more springs are o'er,
When a few more griefs I've tasted,
I shall live to die no more.

Text Information

• First Line: Hail ye sighing sons of sorrow
• Publication Date: 1849

Tune Information

• Name: GLOOM OF AUTUMN
• Meter: 8 & 7.