 | A New Year's Eve, and Other Poems |  |
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THE PAST.
O for the days of olden time!
With magic marvels rife,
When visions, shadowy and sublime,
Their influence shed o'er life.
With magic marvels rife,
When visions, shadowy and sublime,
Their influence shed o'er life.
When ivied grot and darksome dell,
Wild heath and mountain hoar,
Were haunted by the potent spell
Of legendary lore.
Wild heath and mountain hoar,
Were haunted by the potent spell
Of legendary lore.
When fairies danced on moon-lit green,
And fauns in shady wood;
And by each fountain's silvery sheen
Its guardian naiad stood.
And fauns in shady wood;
And by each fountain's silvery sheen
Its guardian naiad stood.
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Such were the wild and wondrous themes
Which gave, in earlier days,
The minstrel's visionary dreams,
And woke his favourite lays.
Which gave, in earlier days,
The minstrel's visionary dreams,
And woke his favourite lays.
But spell and vision, elf and faun,
And naiad, loved of yore,
In vale, on hill, in grove, on lawn,
By fount—are known no more.
And naiad, loved of yore,
In vale, on hill, in grove, on lawn,
By fount—are known no more.
Far from the worldling's frigid jest
Hath fled the frolic train,
And proud Philosophy's behest
Unpeopled wood and plain.
Hath fled the frolic train,
And proud Philosophy's behest
Unpeopled wood and plain.
May not the poet mourn for this,
And own with fruitless sighs,
Where simple “ignorance was bliss,
'Tis folly to be wise?”
And own with fruitless sighs,
Where simple “ignorance was bliss,
'Tis folly to be wise?”
| A New Year's Eve, and Other Poems | |