Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

IN ARCADIE by JOSEPHINE AUGUSTA CASS

First Line: HOW SWIFT THE DAYS FLED, ONE BY ONE
Last Line: IN ARCADIE!
Subject(s): ARCADIANS; FRIENDSHIP; WELLESLEY COLLEGE; ARCADIA;
HOW swift the days fled, one by one,
In Arcadie, in Arcadie!
And when we thought them just begun,
(Those happy days!) the last was gone,
And we no more might linger on
In arcadie.

Fair days, descending from the blue
On Arcadie, on Arcadie!
Some queens, and crowned with diamond dew,
By gleaming robes of sunlight gold
Enwrapt, in many a wind-swayed fold,
In Arcadie.

And some were Quakers clad in gray
In Arcadie, in Arcadie;
And passed serenely on their way,
Silent, as pondering some sweet thought,
From Goethe or from Homer brought,
In Arcadie.

Some days were angels, white and tall,
In Arcadie, in Arcadie,
Who led us to confessional,
There bade us of our sins repent,
And softly blessed us ere we went,
In Arcadie.

And oreads some, lithe-limbed and strong,
In Arcadie, in Arcadie --
With laughing eyes, forever young;
Our guides were they to mount and glen,
Green-robed, like Robin's merry men,
In Arcadie.

And lo! we stood on many a height
In Arcadie, in Arcadie;
The stream that lay in curves of light
Before our feet, through yon blue rift
Rolled seaward, silently and swift,
Through Arcadie.

That mountain-barrier, faint and far
Round Arcadie, round Arcadie,
It shut us in with moon and star,
With sunset splendors, dawn delights,
And all the train of silver nights,
In Arcadie!

* * * * * * * *

And some there met who ne'er will part,
In Arcadie, in Arcadie;
For lands divide not heart from heart,
And friends are friends on sea or shore,
Although they wander nevermore
In Arcadie!



Home: PoetryExplorer.net