Sonnets :: :: University of Virginia Library

And do I then behold again the scene,
Where once I sported when a wanton child;
The mead, the church, the streamlet running wild,
With here and there a fairy spot between
Smiling, as there rude storm had never been?
Alas! how chang'd are we who once did rove,
Calder, thy then enchanted banks along;
Retiring now to the sequester'd grove,
Now cheerful heark'ning to th'accustom'd song
That rose at eventide these vales among!
The charm and hope of youth the green leaves wear;
'Tis only man that blossoms and decays
To know no second spring. I thoughtful gaze
With dream of years long past, and drop a tear.