 | The select poems of Dr. Thomas Dunn English (exclusive of the "Battle lyrics") |  |
THE OLD HOME.
Hither I come now years have sped,
With trembling limbs and footsteps slow,
My heart unchanged, but on my head
The crown of age's snow.
With trembling limbs and footsteps slow,
My heart unchanged, but on my head
The crown of age's snow.
Before me yonder river lies,
And overhead extend the vines;
Upon the bluff in gloom arise
The grim and wizard pines.
And overhead extend the vines;
Upon the bluff in gloom arise
The grim and wizard pines.
Though man and time have altered not
The house, the orchard, and the lawn,
The olden pleasance of the spot
I find forever gone.
The house, the orchard, and the lawn,
The olden pleasance of the spot
I find forever gone.
There are no more the lofty trees
That one time lined the river shores;
Shorn or decayed, I find but these
Two hollow sycamores.
That one time lined the river shores;
Shorn or decayed, I find but these
Two hollow sycamores.
Where once upon the burdened wain
In harvest time I often rode,
Weed-overgrown, I see the lane
That bears no more a load.
In harvest time I often rode,
Weed-overgrown, I see the lane
That bears no more a load.
264
The garden trim that once I knew
A thistly wilderness succeeds;
And where a thousand blossoms grew
There are but noxious weeds.
A thistly wilderness succeeds;
And where a thousand blossoms grew
There are but noxious weeds.
The spring that from the hillside burst
With sparkling flow and pure and clear,
At which I often quenched my thirst,
Oozes impurely here.
With sparkling flow and pure and clear,
At which I often quenched my thirst,
Oozes impurely here.
The huge, wide barn, whose threshing-floor
To mind long hours of frolic brings,
Remains, and to it as of yore
The five-leaved creeper clings.
To mind long hours of frolic brings,
Remains, and to it as of yore
The five-leaved creeper clings.
But where are those who shared my play,
The friends in childhood dear to me—
The darling of a later day,
Sweet Alice, where is she?
The friends in childhood dear to me—
The darling of a later day,
Sweet Alice, where is she?
From where the past unbars its door
A flood of sudden splendor gleams,
And there she stands in sight once more,
The lady of my dreams.
A flood of sudden splendor gleams,
And there she stands in sight once more,
The lady of my dreams.
The vision fades—she is not here:
A shade of gloom succeeds instead
The ghosts of former things appear,
I stand amid the dead.
A shade of gloom succeeds instead
The ghosts of former things appear,
I stand amid the dead.
Dead all my childhood's hopes and fears;
Dead those my early lifetime knew;
The feelings of my early years
Are dead and buried too.
Dead those my early lifetime knew;
The feelings of my early years
Are dead and buried too.
265
Hoping with careful providence
To save it for a later day,
Ere my ambition lured me hence
I hid the past away.
To save it for a later day,
Ere my ambition lured me hence
I hid the past away.
Now to its hiding-place alone
I eager come at early dawn,
And memory rolls away the stone
To find the treasure gone.
I eager come at early dawn,
And memory rolls away the stone
To find the treasure gone.
| The select poems of Dr. Thomas Dunn English (exclusive of the "Battle lyrics") | |