III.
To my memory come back darkly in the stilly midnight hour,
Dim and faded now, the pictures of Life’s early glow and power,
When the world was arched with halos of hopes unmixed with fears,
And I marvelled they should tell me but of sorrowing and tears!
When my spirit loved to revel in its palaces of dreams,
Lit with lightning-flash of fancy, rosy bloom and starry gleams;
Listening to the choral harmonies that filled each lofty dome,
Like the clear and liquid music in the Nereid’s azure home.
And it looked from its proud towers on the Future’s magic scene,
Till the Present grew all gladsome with the brightness of its sheen;
Far off-notes of triumph swelling, floated up from years to come,
Silver blast of clarion blending with the roll of stormy drum!