Page:Poems of Sentiment and Imagination.djvu/46

42 THE POET'S HARP OF SORROWS.

hast been silent long, harp of my sorrows,

I had thought ne'er to touch thy chords again!

But grief closed in the heart such sternness borrows,

It is relief to waken thy complain;

And I have yearned to lay my heart on thee,

And let its throbbings wake a symphony.

I have a vision in my heart—

A vision of years long gone by—

And from almost oblivion start

A thousand links of memory.

I see a dimly smiling band

Far back upon the stream of time;

And friendship's wreath from hand to hand

Links sunniest flowers of sunny clime.

I see them faintly though so near;

I gaze into their smiling eyes;

And from their soft warm lips I hear

The gushing of old melodies.

But they are passing; as I gaze

The light fades from each smiling brow;

Unlike that dream of by-gone days,

A specter-band glides by me now.

My eyes are dim with unshed tears

That burn like fire, but will not flow;

My vision hath recalled the years,

The light-winged, bright-hued long ago.

I hear the caroling of birds,

And murmur of a gurgling stream,

A low sweet laugh, and pleasant words,

And eyes long closed with brilliance beam.