O HOVERING forms, ye come to me once more, Ye whom I saw in youth with troubled eyes. Do I believe this dream as heretofore? Shall I essay to grasp it, ere it flies? Ye crowd upon me, ye encompass me, As from the mist and vapor ye arise. My bosom trembles at the breath again Of the enchanted air about your train. Ye bring to me the scenes of happy days, And many a lovely shadow reappears; Like an old, half-forgotten tale, ye raise First-Love and Friendship of my early years. Once more of all life's labyrinthine maze, The sad strain is repeated with fresh tears. Ye name dear friends who have preceded me, Cheated of lovely hours by Destiny. The souls to whom I sang my early lay Hear not this last, -- that friendly throng is gone, The echo of the first has died away. Unto an alien public I intone This my new song; their very plaudits make My heart grow sick, and all who for my sake In other days, on hearing me, made mirth, If they still live, are scattered o'er the earth. There seizes me a long unfelt desire For that calm spirit-region far away. Above me floats, like an AEolian lyre, With indistinct, vague tones, my lisping lay. I glow and tremble while tear follows tear, And mild and soft becomes my heart severe. All I have now seems strange and far to me, And what hath gone becomes reality. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LOVE SONNETS OF PROTEUS: 110. THE OASIS OF SIDI KHALED by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT A BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 9 by THOMAS CAMPION THE WAVES OF BREFFNY by EVA GORE-BOOTH THE BELLS OF YOUTH by WILLIAM SHARP THE MORAL FABLES: THE FOX, THE WOLF, AND THE CADGER by AESOP IRISES by KATHERINE HARRIS BRADLEY DEVOTIONAL VERSES by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643) |