When the girls came out from the valley’s shade,
And earth into heaven seemed then to fade.
’Twas the Eden of old, and I was a child
(I have thought of it since and often have smiled);
Sitting there in the swing, with the girls at my feet,
And the boys overhead—my joy was complete;
What a mockery, then, to awaken and part
With the happy illusion—how hollow my heart!
