 | [Poems by Gallagher in] Selections from the poetical literature of the West |  |
65
OUR EARLY DAYS.
Our EARLY DAYS!—How often back
We turn on Life's bewildering track,
To where, o'er hill and valley, plays
The sunlight of our early days!
We turn on Life's bewildering track,
To where, o'er hill and valley, plays
The sunlight of our early days!
A Boy!—my truant steps were seen
Where streams were bright, and meadows green;
Where flow'rs, in beauty and perfume,
Breath'd ever of the Eden-bloom,—
And birds, abroad in the free wind,
Sang, as they left the earth behind
And wing'd their joyous way above,
Of Eden-peace, and Eden-love.
That life was of the soul, as well
As of the outward-visible;
And now, its streams are dry; and sere,
And brown, its meadows all appear;
Gone are its flow'rs; its bird's glad voice
But seldom bids my heart rejoice;
And, like the mist as comes the day,
Its Eden-glories roll away.
Where streams were bright, and meadows green;
Where flow'rs, in beauty and perfume,
Breath'd ever of the Eden-bloom,—
And birds, abroad in the free wind,
Sang, as they left the earth behind
And wing'd their joyous way above,
Of Eden-peace, and Eden-love.
That life was of the soul, as well
As of the outward-visible;
And now, its streams are dry; and sere,
And brown, its meadows all appear;
Gone are its flow'rs; its bird's glad voice
But seldom bids my heart rejoice;
And, like the mist as comes the day,
Its Eden-glories roll away.
66
A Youth!—the mountain torrent made
The music which my soul obey'd.
To shun the crowded ways of men,
And seek the old tradition'd glen,
Where, through the dim, uncertain light,
Moved many an ever-changing sprite,—
Alone the splinter'd crag to dare,
While trooping shadows fill'd the air,
And quicken'd fancy many a form
Traced vaguely in the gathering storm,—
To tread the forest's lone arcades,
And dream of Sherwood's peopled shades,
And Windsor's haunted ‘alleys green’
‘Dingle’ and ‘bosky bourn’ between,
Till burst upon my raptured glance
The whole wide realm of Old Romance:
Such was the life I lived—a youth!
But vanish'd, at the touch of Truth,
And never to be known agen,
Is all that made my being then.
The music which my soul obey'd.
To shun the crowded ways of men,
And seek the old tradition'd glen,
Where, through the dim, uncertain light,
Moved many an ever-changing sprite,—
Alone the splinter'd crag to dare,
While trooping shadows fill'd the air,
And quicken'd fancy many a form
Traced vaguely in the gathering storm,—
To tread the forest's lone arcades,
And dream of Sherwood's peopled shades,
And Windsor's haunted ‘alleys green’
‘Dingle’ and ‘bosky bourn’ between,
Till burst upon my raptured glance
The whole wide realm of Old Romance:
Such was the life I lived—a youth!
But vanish'd, at the touch of Truth,
And never to be known agen,
Is all that made my being then.
A Man!—the thirst for fame was mine,
And bow'd me at Ambition's shrine,
Among the votaries who have given
Time, health, hope, peace—and madly striven,
Ay, madly! for that which, when found,
Is oftenest but an empty sound.
And I have worshipp'd!—even yet
Mine eye is on the Idol set;
But it hath found so much to be
But hollowness and mockery,
That from its worship oft it turns
To where a Light intenser burns,
Before whose radiance, pure and warm,
Ambition's star must cease to charm.
And bow'd me at Ambition's shrine,
Among the votaries who have given
Time, health, hope, peace—and madly striven,
Ay, madly! for that which, when found,
Is oftenest but an empty sound.
67
Mine eye is on the Idol set;
But it hath found so much to be
But hollowness and mockery,
That from its worship oft it turns
To where a Light intenser burns,
Before whose radiance, pure and warm,
Ambition's star must cease to charm.
Our EARLY DAYS!—They haunt us ever—
Bright star-gleams on Life's silent river,
Which pierce the shadows, deep and dun,
That bar e'en manhood's noonday sun.
Bright star-gleams on Life's silent river,
Which pierce the shadows, deep and dun,
That bar e'en manhood's noonday sun.
| [Poems by Gallagher in] Selections from the poetical literature of the West | |