Page:Poems, Household Edition, Emerson, 1904.djvu/277

Rh Not long ago, at eventide,

It seemed, so listening, at my side

A window rose, and, to say sooth,

I looked forth on the fields of youth:

I saw fair boys bestriding steeds,

I knew their forms in fancy weeds,

Long, long concealed by sundering fates,

Mates of my youth,—yet not my mates,

Stronger and bolder far than I,

With grace, with genius, well attired,

And then as now from far admired,

Followed with love

They knew not of,

With passion cold and shy.

O joy, for what recoveries rare!

Renewed, I breathe Elysian air,

See youth's glad mates in earliest bloom,—

Break not my dream, obtrusive tomb!

Or teach thou, Spring! the grand recoil

Of life resurgent from the soil

Wherein was dropped the mortal spoil.