Mild Is The Parting Year

by Walter Savage Landor (1775 – 1864)

Mild is the parting year and sweet
The odour of the falling spray;
Life passes on more rudely fleet,
And balmless is its closing day.

I wait its close, I court its gloom,
But mourn that never must there fall;
Or on my breast or on my tomb
The tear that would have soothed it all.

A few Landor quotes :

"A man's vanity tells him what is honor, a man's conscience what is justice."

"Ambition has but one reward for all: A little power, a little transient fame; A grave to rest in, and a fading name!"

"Men, like nails, lose their usefulness when they lose their direction and begin to bend."

"We talk on principal, but act on motivation."