Come, Chase That Starting Tear Away

By Thomas Moore

Come, chase that starting tear away,
Ere mine to meet it springs;
To-night, at least, to-night be gay,
Whate'er to-morrow brings!
Like sunset gleams that linger late
When all is dark'ning fast,
Are hours like these we snatch from Fate --
The brightest and the last.

To gild our dark'ning life, if Heaven
But one bright hour allow,
Oh! think that one bright hour is given,
In all its splendour, now!
Let's live it out -- then sink in night
Like waves that from the shore
One minute swell -- are touched with light --
Then lost for evermore.