A MEMORY

Ah, dear! how memory stirs,

Of meadows and soft-voiced thrushes

Of winds that sang amid firs,

Or piped on the cool, damp rushes.

Of twilights and early dawns,

And times when the earth is fairest;

Of gardens with dewy lawns,

And flowers when their scent is rarest.

Of noontide and humming bees,

That gather the love of roses;

Of night-time and sighing trees,

And clouds where the moon reposes.

And, dearest,—of just we two,

Alone in this world of splendour,

Where everything lived for you,

In glorious, sweet surrender.