 | [Poems by Whittier in] A Study of Whittier's Apprenticeship as a Poet |  |
HALCYON DAYS
Were there no halcyon days? oh yes,
There were in hours gone by,
When cherubs of pure happiness
Came laughing up the sky
Like Naiads from the deep, deep sea,
They came in loveliness to me.
There were in hours gone by,
When cherubs of pure happiness
Came laughing up the sky
Like Naiads from the deep, deep sea,
They came in loveliness to me.
Oh youth—thy perfumed waving plumes,
Are torn by life's rude blast;
And when they've beat on earth's cold tomb
Their beauty all has passed;—
The smile which once was in thine eye
Becomes thy tear, adversity.
Are torn by life's rude blast;
And when they've beat on earth's cold tomb
Their beauty all has passed;—
The smile which once was in thine eye
Becomes thy tear, adversity.
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But yet, sweet memory, thy store
Preserves infantile hours,
And throws a sacred incense o'er
Their lonely withered bowers.
Still I can sing to halcyon days,
E'en now, one little air of praise.
Preserves infantile hours,
And throws a sacred incense o'er
Their lonely withered bowers.
Still I can sing to halcyon days,
E'en now, one little air of praise.
My mother! and that witching eve
When God and nature smiled,
When thou, my long-lost Genevive,
Warbled that song so wild!
Aye—they will come and prove to me
The world was not all misery.
When God and nature smiled,
When thou, my long-lost Genevive,
Warbled that song so wild!
Aye—they will come and prove to me
The world was not all misery.
Those days when 'neath the forest oak,
I dreamed ambition's dream,
Whispered this heart could not be broke,
While Hope held out one beam;—
Oh it is sweet to be deceived,
E'en in the hour when most bereaved.
I dreamed ambition's dream,
Whispered this heart could not be broke,
While Hope held out one beam;—
Oh it is sweet to be deceived,
E'en in the hour when most bereaved.
But, halcyon days, I envy ye,
That once did visit me;
Gone is your joyous revelry,
Beyond life's bitter sea;
But as the prophet did of old,
I grasp your parting mantle's fold.
That once did visit me;
Gone is your joyous revelry,
Beyond life's bitter sea;
But as the prophet did of old,
I grasp your parting mantle's fold.
New youth will come in other spheres,
And then again we'll meet;
Forgotten when these bitter tears,—
This world's unkind deceit:
And we will shout with gladness there
Where comes not ill or black despair.
And then again we'll meet;
Forgotten when these bitter tears,—
This world's unkind deceit:
And we will shout with gladness there
Where comes not ill or black despair.
Like friends whom Fortune's arm hath driven
Apart to distant lands,
We'll meet beneath a milder heaven,
In pristine Friendship's bands,—
And there mid those resplendent rays
We'll sing together, Halcyon days.
Apart to distant lands,
We'll meet beneath a milder heaven,
In pristine Friendship's bands,—
And there mid those resplendent rays
We'll sing together, Halcyon days.
Boston Statesman, August 4, 1827
| [Poems by Whittier in] A Study of Whittier's Apprenticeship as a Poet | |