I WISH I COULD REMEMBER.
I
I wish I could remember
The melody she sung;
It flits across my memory,
It trembles on my tongue.
Again those sweet notes haunt me,
In accents like her own!
But ere I can connect them
Those few wild notes are flown.
II
'Tis like a dreamer waking
From slumbers that are blest;
Fair visions have been hovering
Around his place of rest.
The forms that smiled upon him,
Then vanish one by one;
In vain he would recall them,
'Tis day—and they are gone.
III
Yet often do I fancy
I have the air and words;
I hasten to my harp again,
And trifle with its chords.
Some notes recur, but with them
Come thoughts of other years;
The air is gone, it owns not
Companionship with tears.