Thomas H. Peterson, "Oh! Happy Youth" (1907)
Oh! happy youth, before whose feet
The pathway lies both straight and fair,
How little doth thou really know
Of days and nights o'er rough with care.
Thy dreams are sweet, thy thought doth make
A picture of those coming years,
Where joys and smiles forever dwell
And thy young eyes condemned with tears.
The ceaseless flow of time goes on
For young and old alike, I mean,
And life is heavy with its load
Years have held, the eyes have not seen.
The brow is furrowed with many a line,
The heart grows dull with pain and grief;
And Death at last, with kindly hand,
Draws the curtain, and brings relief.
Published in Colored American Magazine, May 1907