THE WATERMILL.
LISTEN to the watermill all the livelong day,
How the creaking of the wheel wears the hours away!
Languidly the water glides useless on the still,
Never coming back again to the watermill.
And a proverb haunts my mind as the spell is cast,
"The mill will never grind with the water that has passed."
Take the lesson to yourself, loving heart and true,
Golden years are passing by—youth is passing too—
Try to make the most of life, lose no honest way;
All that you can call your own lies in this—today.
Power, intellect, and strength may not, cannot last.
"The mill will never grind with the water that has passed."
Oh! The wasted hours of life that have flitted by;
Oh! The good we might have done—lost without a sigh.
Love that we might once have saved with but a single word,
Thoughts conceived but never penned, perishing unheard.
Take the lesson to your heart, take, oh, hold it fast,
"The mill will never grind with the water that has passed.”