To Nemo
Oh well and merry passed the time
When we were three years younger,
When lightsome jest and sportive rhyme
Wak'd mirth that lives no longer:
When laughing eyes, and spirit light,
Defied the touch of sorrow,—
And each enjoyed the passing night,
Nor cared about the morrow.
Alas ! where now the jovial band
That oft till daylight tarried ?
Some wand'ring in a distant land,
And some—poor souls—are married:
While each, as times grow daily worse,
Gives way to melancholy,
And, gazing on his empty purse,
Regrets his former folly.
And this must always be the lot
The world to rashness measures,
When future cares are all forgot
In sharing present pleasures:
Then what the moral taught us here,—
That bottle-friends are hollow,—
And man should use the current year,
With thought for those to follow.
FREDERICK. North Brisbane, 30th September, 1848.
Moreton Bay Courier 14 October 1848, p4