484. The Light of Other Days

Thomas Moore (1779—1852)

  OFT in the stilly night

  Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,

  Fond Memory brings the light

  Of other days around me:

  The smiles, the tears

  Of boyhood’s years,

  The words of love then spoken;

  The eyes that shone,

  Now dimm’d and gone,

  The cheerful hearts now broken!

  Thus in the stilly night

  Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,

  Sad Memory brings the light

  Of other days around me.

  When I remember all

  The friends so link’d together

  I’ve seen around me fall

  Like leaves in wintry weather,

  I feel like one

  Who treads alone

  Some banquet-hall deserted,

  Whose lights are fled

  Whose garlands dead,

  And all but he departed!

  Thus in the stilly night

  Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,

  Sad Memory brings the light

  Of other days around me.