Now and then

Charles Bertram Johnson 1880 (Callao, Missouri) – 1958 (Jefferson City, Cole County, Missouri)



“All life is built from song”
   In youth’s young morn I sang;
And from a top-near hill
   The echo broke and rang.

The years with pinions swift
   To youth’s high noon made flight,
“All life is built from song”
   I sang amid the fight.

To life’s sun-setting years,
   My feet have come—Alas!
And through its hopes and fears
   Again I shall not pass.

The lusty song my youth
   With high-heart ardor sang
Is but a tinkling sound—
   A cymbal’s empty clang.

And now I sing, my Dear,
   With wisdom’s wiser heart,
“All life is built from love,
   And song is but a part.”
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Submitted by naama on July 13, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

31 sec read
27

Quick analysis:

Scheme Abxb xcAc dede xbxb xfxf
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 578
Words 104
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Charles Bertram Johnson

Charles Bertram Johnson was born in Callao, Missouri, in 1880. He is the author of the poetry collection Songs of My People (The Cornhill Company, 1918) and the pamphlets Wind Whisperings (1900) and The Mantle of Dunbar (1918). Johnson worked as a teacher and later became part of the ministry. more…

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