Once a Week (magazine)/Series 1/Volume 9/"Long ago"
“LONG AGO.”
I.
I had a friend, long years ago,
I thought him all my own;
But he has long forgotten me,
And those bright days have flown.
II.
We sat together on the sand,
We heard the billows roar;
We marked the blue waves come and go
Upon the lone sea-shore.
III.
Oh! little dreamt I, as I gazed
Upon that ocean wide,
And fondly thought our love would be
As boundless as its tide,
IV.
That even as the waves effaced
Each mark upon the sand,
So would my joy be reft from me,
By sorrow’s stern demand.
V.
If he were dead, and in the grave
Our friendship buried lay,
I’d still hope on, and patiently
Await a meeting day.
VI.
But he will never call me friend,
E’en though we meet again;
’Tis that that adds to each day’s woe
Its bitterest draught of pain.
VII.
I thought then, in my ignorance,
That we were friends for ever;
And knowing not life’s sharpest pang,
Dreamt only death could sever.
VIII.
But I have learnt, through weary years,
All that my hope was worth;
Now I have nothing to expect
Upon this changeful earth.
IX.
I never can have faith again,
Or trust as once I did;
I knew not what awaited me,
In the dim future hid.
X.
And yet, I know not, if he stood
To-morrow at my side,
If I could coldly turn away,
And spurn him in my pride.
XI.
I know that, if he took my hand,
His voice rang in my ear;
Though he grieved not o’er years of wrong,
But once more called me “dear,”
XII.
I know, I feel it in my heart,
I should be weak again;
And yield me to those tender tones,
Though every word were pain.
XIII.
Oh! no, whate’er may come between,
I never can forget,
Though he has long forgotten them,
Those days when first we met.
XIV.
My trust is gone, but in my heart
My love lies buried deep;
His touch will never wake it more
From its long, lonely sleep.
Iris.