 | The Poetical Works of Caroline Bowles Southey |  |
291
ONCE UPON A TIME.
I Mind me of a pleasant time,
A season long ago;
The pleasantest I've ever known,
Or ever now shall know:
Bees, birds, and little tinkling rills,
So merrily did chime;
The year was in the sweet spring-tide,
And I was in my prime.
A season long ago;
The pleasantest I've ever known,
Or ever now shall know:
Bees, birds, and little tinkling rills,
So merrily did chime;
The year was in the sweet spring-tide,
And I was in my prime.
I've never heard such music since
From every bending spray;
I've never plucked such primroses,
Set thick on bank and brae.
I've never smelt such violets
As all that pleasant time
I found by every hawthorn-root—
When I was in my prime.
From every bending spray;
I've never plucked such primroses,
Set thick on bank and brae.
I've never smelt such violets
As all that pleasant time
I found by every hawthorn-root—
When I was in my prime.
Yon moory down, so black and bare,
Was gorgeous then and gay
With golden gorse—bright blossoming—
As none blooms now-a-day.
The Blackbird sings but seldom now
Up there in the old Lime,
Where hours and hours he used to sing—
When I was in my prime.
Was gorgeous then and gay
With golden gorse—bright blossoming—
As none blooms now-a-day.
The Blackbird sings but seldom now
Up there in the old Lime,
Where hours and hours he used to sing—
When I was in my prime.
Such cutting winds came never then
To pierce one through and through;
More softly fell the silent shower,
More balmily the dew.
The morning mist and evening haze,
Unlike this cold grey rime,
Seemed woven warm of golden air—
When I was in my prime.
To pierce one through and through;
More softly fell the silent shower,
More balmily the dew.
292
Unlike this cold grey rime,
Seemed woven warm of golden air—
When I was in my prime.
And Blackberries—so mawkish now—
Were finely flavoured then;
And Nuts—such reddening clusters ripe
I ne'er shall pull again.
Nor Strawberries blushing bright—as rich
As fruits of sunniest clime;
How all is altered for the worse
Since I was in my prime!
Were finely flavoured then;
And Nuts—such reddening clusters ripe
I ne'er shall pull again.
Nor Strawberries blushing bright—as rich
As fruits of sunniest clime;
How all is altered for the worse
Since I was in my prime!
| The Poetical Works of Caroline Bowles Southey | |