Before Thy Day Doth Fade
Today, with all thy heart,
Love the bloom that wilts tomorrow.
Though from love thou must part,
Waste thou not a tear on sorrow.
At the sudden onset of night,
In the deepening shade,
Love thou dearly that precious light,
Before thy day doth fade.
~ Daniel F Mitchell
Wanderlust
These city walls suppress my breath!
Within a world shaded with doom,
The living live a waking death,
Trapped within an airless tomb.
But my wild eyes refuse to see.
My mind resides on passing clouds.
I long to run from misery,
Far from the maddening crowds!
With the horizon I shall be,
On the trail of the fleeting day,
For the wanderlust is in me,
And nothing can make me stay!
~ Daniel F Mitchell
Dry Leaf
Oh, dry leaf, insignificant and transient,
Formed so, and abandoned so,
That your passing should have a fixed course,
That your rustling might linger for a time more,
That remembrance of your passing might linger,
This is the core want of my substance.
This is the dire need of my soul, oh, dry leaf.
~ Daniel F Mitchell
Shadows and Sand
We are only shadows and sand,
Blending into deepening shades of dusk.
We are fire in mystery’s hand,
Fragrance of bloom lost to decay’s stale musk.
We are vague promises broken,
Form and motion that time will soon rescind.
We are secrets vainly spoken,
Rumors on the dusty tongue of the wind.
~ Daniel F Mitchell
Swiftly Flowing
My life is just a dream
In universal flow,
And matter but a stream
That only time can slow.
The hours are swiftly flowing.
The time of youth has passed.
I don’t know where I am going,
But I’m going there fast.
~ Daniel F Mitchell