REMEMBER, I remember Came peeping in at morn; He never came a wink too soon, But now I often wish the night y! I remember, I remember I remember, I remember Where I was used to swing, And thought the air must rush as fresh My spirit flew in feathers then, That is so heavy now, And summer pools could hardly cool The fever on my brow! I remember, I remember The fir-trees dark and high ; I used to think their slender tops But now 't is little joy To know I'm farther off from heaven THE DREAM OF EUGENE ARAM. WAS in the prime of summer time, And four-and-twenty happy boys Came bounding out of school; There were some that ran and some that leapt, Like troutlets in a pool. Away they sped with gamesome minds, And souls untouched by sin; To a level mead they came, and there Like sportive deer they coursed about, But the usher sat remote from all, A melancholy man ! His hat was off, his vest apart, To catch heaven's blessed breeze; For a burning thought was in his brow, And his bosom ill at ease: So he leaned his head on his hands, and read The book between his knees! Leaf after leaf he turned it o'er, - For the peace of his soul he read that book In the golden eventide ; Much study had made him very lean, At last he shut the ponderous tome; Then leaping on his feet upright, Now up the mead, then down the mead, "My gentle lad, what is 't you read, Romance or fairy fable? Or is it some historic page, Of kings and crowns unstable?" The young boy gave an upward glance, "It is The Death of Abel."" The usher took six hasty strides, And down he sat beside the lad, And, long since then, of bloody men, Of lonely folk cut off unseen, And how the sprites of injured men And unknown facts of guilty acts Are seen in dreams from God! He told how murderers walk the earth Beneath the curse of Cain, With crimson clouds before their eyes, And flames about their brain: |