Ten years ago

Ten years ago, ten years ago,

Life was to us a fairy scene;

And the keen blasts of worldly woe

Had sear'd not then, its pathway green.—

Youth and its thousand dreams were ours,

Feelings, we ne'er can know again;

Unwithered hopes, unwasted powers,

And frames, unworn by mortal pain;

Such was the bright and genial flow

Of life with us-ten years ago?

Time has not blanched a single hair

That clusters round thy forehead now;

Nor hath the cankering touch of care

Left e'en one furrow on thy brow.

Thine eyes are blue as when we met

In love's deep truth in earlier years;

Thy cheek of rose is blooming yet,

Though sometimes stained by secret tears;

But where, oh, where's the spirit's glow,

That shone through all-ten years ago?

But look not thus; -I would not give

The wreck of hopes that thou must share,

To bid those joyous hours revive

When all around me, seemed so fair.

We've wandered on in sunny weather,

When winds were low, and flowers in bloom,

And, hand in hand, have kept together,

And still will keep, mid storm and gloom;

Endeared by ties we could not know

When life was young-ten years ago!

Yes, it is sweet, when heaven is bright,

To share its sunny beams with thee;

But sweeter far, mid clouds and blight,

To have thee near, to weep with me.

Then dry those tears;-though something changed

From what we were in earlier youth,

Time, that hath hopes and friends estranged,

Hath left us love in all its truth;

Sweet feelings we would not forego,

For life's best joys-ten years ago.