CCXXX — The Light of Other Days — A Household Book of English Poetry by Richard Chenevix Trench

CCXXX The Light of Other Days

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 5
    Of boyhood’s years,
  The words of love then spoken;
    The eyes that shone,
    Now dimmed and gone,
  The cheerful hearts now broken! 10
Thus in the stilly light
  Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Sad Memory brings the light
  Of other days around me.

When I remember all 15
  The friends so linked together
I’ve seen around me fall
  Like leaves in wintry weather,
    I feel like one
    Who treads alone 20
  Some banquet-hall deserted,
    Whose lights are fled,
    Whose garlands dead,
  And all but he departed!
Thus in the stilly night 25
  Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Sad Memory brings the light
  Of other days around me.
Thomas Moore.

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