Last Leaf Last Leaf |
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Last LeafLast Leaf
Last Leaf
I saw him once before,
As he passed by the door;
And again
The pavement stones resound,
As he totters o`er the ground
With his cane.
They say that in his prime,
Ere the pruning - knife of Time
Cut him down,
Not a better man was found
By the Crier on his round
Through the town.
[See In His Prime: They say that in his prime.]
But now he walks the streets,
And he looks at all he meets
Sad and wan;
And shakes his feeble head,
That it seems as if he said,
"They are gone."
[See The Street]
The mossy marbles rest
On the lips that he has prest
In their bloom;
And the names he loved to hear
Have been carved for many a year
On the tomb.
My grandmamma has said -
Poor old lady, she is dead
Long ago -
That he had a Roman nose,
And his cheek was like a rose
In the snow.
But now his nose is thin,
And it rests upon his chin
Like a staff;
And a crook is in his back,
And a melancholy crack
In his laugh.
I know it is a sin
For me to sit and grin
At him here;
But the old three - cornered hat,
And the breeches and all that,
Are so queer!
And if I should live to be
The last leaf upon the tree
In the spring,
Let them smile, as I do now,
At the old forsaken bough
Where I cling.
[See Bough: The old forsaken bough.]
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