Page:ONCE A WEEK JUL TO DEC 1860.pdf/32

24 Waving above a battle-field; Where bat and lizard had allied, With mole and owlet by their side, And forced the bulwark foe to yield. Some phantasy beguiled my sight With vision of a gorgeous story,— Of jewell’d roof, of halls of light, Of purple woof, of walls of might, Of pillar’d temples, thrones of state, Of pomp and palace, grand and great, Of people’s shouts, of feasting kings, And all the myriad dazzling things That haunt the place of faded glory.

—I started, for a frighten’d thrush Flew from a tuft of sedgy rush, Then, gazing down, I stepp’d aside To let the toad crawl back and hide; A squirrel brood ran up the larch That sway’d within the oriel arch, And then my tread disturb’d the rest Of a wild rabbit in its nest. I trampled through the dank thick grass, To catch the bindweed’s trailing flowers, That tied themselves in tangled mass Across the cracking turret towers. The topmost battlement was lying Co-equal with the buttress pile; And dolefully the wind was sighing Through festive court and priestly aisle. Time’s robe of green was flung about The mammoth skeleton of strength; And scatter’d bones of granite stones Told of its giant breadth and length. I stood upon a scatter’d heap Of fragments of the watch-tower Keep; I wander’d on, and stroll’d across The banquet-hall, laid down with moss; I climbed some steps shut out from day, Till dust and nettles choked my way; I saw a mushroom springing up Where royal feet had led the dance; I saw the foxglove’s swinging cup Where knights had hung their banner’d lance; And as I gazed I saw a hand— A wither’d hand—stretch forth and write A short text fraught with holy thought, Easy to read by dullest sight. Twas plain and terse, but sacred page Gives nought more simple and sublime, It soften’d youth, it solaced age, It mock’d the hero and the sage In these words—“Once upon a time.”

’Twas but yesterday I found A score of letters, closely bound: Some were torn in treasured pieces, Some were worn in careful creases, Ink had faded, seals had crumbled,