Benjamin Brierley

To My Wife

       (ON HER 59TH BIRTHDAY.)

NOW "all that glitters is not gold,"
    A lesson learn from that, dear wife!
The sun that's bright at morning-tide,
    Is like the transient morn of life.
At noon it pales its morning beams;
    The sky assumes a sober grey,
As if the calm of eventide,
    Would chase in sleep all cares away.

Another morn, a brighter morn,
    May greet with joy our waking hour,
A sun of Heavenly gold may shine,
    Not plated o'er by earthly power,
But gemmed as with a coronal,
    Formed of the purest crystal ray,
And stream afar, like an angel's smile;
    The light of an Eternal day.