TEN YEARS AGO!
I
Ten years ago in this place we met,
And we meet as gaily now!
For Time has but little changed as yet,
Youth's joyous lip and brow.
Above us, the tree a canopy weaves,
'Tis a fanciful thought I know—
But I almost could think they're the same green leaves
That were here ten years ago!
II
Ten years ago! yet each word and look
Are fresh as if just gone by!
They were traced in memory's treasure book,
And the ink seems scarcely dry!
The mariner's barque has encountered storms,
From his lip no complaint shall flow,
If the barque be mann'd by the same gay forms
That were there ten years ago!