Page:The songs that Quinte sang.djvu/90

86 As I sit alone by the fire
 * This quiet Hallowe’en,

My heart revives with the memory
 * Of a past and happy scene,

How their forms arise before me,
 * The dear friends of the past,

But how soon the visions vanish,
 * Too bright by far to last!

I seem to feel their presence
 * In the swiftly gathering gloom,

And I hear their garments rustle
 * In the stillness of the room,

And gentle mem’ry rolls away
 * The years that intervene

Between me and the pleasure
 * Of that happy Hallowe’en.

A merry, laughing party,
 * With lips and eyes aglow,

With ringing laugh and merry jest—
 * What thought had we of woe?

O loved ones dear, since that glad night,
 * Sad years have come and gone,

And of all the bright and happy group,
 * I am sitting here alone.