life was all a lyric song Set to tricksy meter

Yesterday I held your hand, 

Reverently I pressed it, 

And its gentle yieldingness 

From my soul I blessed it. 

 

But to-day I sit alone, 

Sad and sore repining; 

Must our gold forever know 

Flames for the refining? 

 

Yesterday I walked with you, 

Could a day be sweeter? 

Life was all a lyric song 

Set to tricksy meter. 

 

Ah, to-day is like a dirge,— 

Place my arms around you, 

Let me feel the same dear joy 

As when first I found you. 

 

Let me once retrace my steps, 

From these roads unpleasant, 

Let my heart and mind and soul 

All ignore the present. 

 

Yesterday the iron seared 

And to-day means sorrow. 

Pause, my soul, arise, arise, 

Look where gleams the morrow. 

 

[Paul Laurence Dunbar {1872-1906} 'Yesterday and To-morrow' - This poem is in the public domain]