But, oh ye scenes, that have once beguiled,
In the peaceful days of yore.
I would come again like a little child
With the trust I knew before.
I would call back every hope and fear,
The heart throbs full and high,
The prattling child that rambled here,
And ask if it were I?
And I would recall the murmured prayer,
And the dark eyes look of love,
While unseen angels hovered there
From the starry worlds above.
And I've come to seek one flower here,
Just one, in its fading bloom,
Though it must be culled with a gushing tear
From a parent's grassy tomb.
And I'll bear it away on my lonely breast,
As a charm 'mid earth's stormy strife,
An amulet, worn to give me rest,
On the billowy waves of life.
I wait not now by the dancing rill
For the steps of my playmates fair—
They are gone—but yon heaven is o'er me still,
And I'll seek to meet them there.
Parents, and friends, and hopes are gone,
And these memories only given,
But they shall be links, while the heart is lone,
In the "chain" that reaches heaven.