Come Back, Dear Days!
COME back, dear days, from out the Past!
... I see your gentle ghosts arise,
You look at me with mournful eyes,
And then the night grows vague and vast :
You have gone back to Paradise.
... I see your gentle ghosts arise,
You look at me with mournful eyes,
And then the night grows vague and vast :
You have gone back to Paradise.
Why did you fleet away, dear days ?
You were so welcome when you came !
The morning skies were all aflame,
The birds sang matins in your praise,
All else of life you put to shame.
You were so welcome when you came !
The morning skies were all aflame,
The birds sang matins in your praise,
All else of life you put to shame.
Did I not honor you aright, —
I, who but lived to see you shine,
Who felt your very pain divine,
Thanked God and warmed me in your light,
Or quaffed your tears as they were wine ?
I, who but lived to see you shine,
Who felt your very pain divine,
Thanked God and warmed me in your light,
Or quaffed your tears as they were wine ?
What wooed you to these stranger skies, —
What love more fond, what dream more fair,
What music whispered in the air ?
What soft delight of smiles and sighs
Enchanted you from otherwhere ?
What love more fond, what dream more fair,
What music whispered in the air ?
What soft delight of smiles and sighs
Enchanted you from otherwhere ?
You left no pledges when you went:
The years since then are bleak and cold, —
No bursting buds the Junes unfold.
While you were here my all I spent;
Now I am poor, and sad, and old.
The years since then are bleak and cold, —
No bursting buds the Junes unfold.
While you were here my all I spent;
Now I am poor, and sad, and old.
Louise Chandler Moulton.