One picture fair within my heart I carry,
Unshadowed by the weary weight of years;
And often, as amid strange scenes I tarry,
A vision of my early youth appears.
The houses clustered on the water’s border,
Clear imaged in the softly flowing stream;
The trees beyond it, set in gracious order,
The bridge, the road — delicious is the dream!
Each nook recalls fond thoughts, and memories soften
My heart to those that still by them abide;
I think of those that wandered with me often —
Of those who now in earth lie side by side.
Long years have rolled, and other children gladly
Rove in the woods and by the waterside;
And some who walked with me may eye them sadly,
And think of other days, whose light has died.
And yet it lives, and sheds a wondrous sweetness
Around the ways, else darkly shaded all;
Making the heart, preparèd in all meetness,
Like "darkened chamber,"[1] when the bright rays fall:
A home of beauty, where the past is cherished,
Each common thing made radiant in the light;
No gleam of love or beauty that has perished,
But here, relimned, is clear to inward sight.
