Beauties of the mind, a poetical sketch :: :: University of Virginia Library

The days gone by,—'tis sad, yet sweet
To list the strain of parted hours;
To think of those we loved to meet
When children, 'mid a thousand flowers!
The scenes we roved—romantic—lone—
Ere yet our hearts had learned to sigh—
The dreams of glory once our own—
In days gone by—in days gone by!

II

The days gone by—oh! is there not
A charm—a feeling in those words—
A music ne'er to be forgot—
Struck from the memory's sweetest chords.
With many a tone to wake a tear,
And many a thought we fain would fly;
Oh! still to every heart are dear
The days gone by—the days gone by!

III

The days gone by—they have a spell
To burst the cerements of the grave;
And from oblivion's deepest cell,
The forms we loved and lost—to save!
Time may not fade those looks of light,—
Still beauteous to the mental eye
As the first hour they blest our sight,
In days gone by—in days gone by!

IV

The days gone by—Man's best essay—
One fadeless work to leave behind—
Before their might hath passed away
Like dust upon the desert wind:
The very mountains have grown grey—
And stars have vanished from the sky—
The young—the fair—oh! where are they?—
With days gone by—with days gone by!

V

The days gone by—from shore to shore
Their ever lengthening shadows spread
On—on—'till Time shall breathe no more—
And Earth itself be with the dead:
Each brief—unnoticed—minute bears
The mandate of its God on high:
And death and silence are the heirs
Of days gone by—of days gone by!