258 I REMEMBER, I REMEMBER. I REMEMBER, I REMEMBER. I REMEMBER, I remember, I remember, I remember, The laburnum on his birth-day,- I remember, I remember, Where I was used to swing, And thought the air must rush as fresh To swallows on the wing; My spirit flew in feathers then, That is so heavy now, And summer pools could hardly cool The fever on my brow! I remember, I remember, I used to think their slender tops But now 'tis little joy To know I'm farther off from Heav'n Than when I was a boy. T. Hood. THE LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS. OFT in the stilly night Ere slumber's chain has bound me, Fond Memory brings the light Of other days around me; The smiles, the tears Of boyhood's years, The words of love then spoken The eyes that shone, Now dimm'd and gone, The cheerful hearts now broken! Thus in the stilly night Ere slumber's chain has bound me, Sad Memory brings the light Of other days around me. When I remember all The friends so link'd together I've seen around me fall Like leaves in wintry weather, I feel like one Who treads alone Some banquet-hall deserted, 260 THE RECOLLECTION. Thus in the stilly night Ere slumber's chain has bound me, Of other days around me. T. Moore. THE RECOLLECTION. Now the last day of many days For now the Earth has changed its face. We wander'd to the Pine Forest The whispering waves were half asleep, The smile of Heaven lay; It seem'd as if the hour were one We paused amid the pines that stood Tortured by storms to shapes as rude And soothed by every azure breath Now all the tree-tops lay asleep How calm it was!-the silence there The breath of peace we drew A spirit interfused around, To momentary peace it bound Our mortal nature's strife;— And still I felt the centre of The magic circle there Was one fair Form that fill'd with love The lifeless atmosphere. We paused beside the pools that lie Under the forest bough; Each seem'd as 'twere a little sky Gulf'd in a world below; 262 THE RECOLLECTION. A firmament of purple light More boundless than the depth of night In which the lovely forests grew As in the upper air, More perfect both in shape and hue There lay the glade and neighbouring lawn, The white sun twinkling like the dawn Out of a speckled cloud. Sweet views which in our world above Can never well be seen Were imaged by the water's love An atmosphere without a breath, Like one beloved, the scene had lent To the dark water's breast Its every leaf and lineament With more than truth exprest; Like an unwelcome thought -Though Thou art ever fair and kind, Less oft is peace in Shelley's mind Than calm in waters seen! P. B. Shelley. |