CHILDHOOD.
Once in a garden bounded
By many a lofty wall,
Where quaint old sentinels, in stone.
Kept watch and ward o'er all,
But opening southwards, shaded
By trees that swept the ground,
And kept the turf unfaded
And green, the summer round,
There was a little lake, and there
An island, and a boat
That lay 'mid shining water-flags
And lily-leaves afloat;
Smooth as the swards around them dipt,
Swept only by the wing
Of gauzy dragon-fly, that dipt
In many a mazy ring,
"Were those still waters; all unstirred
The rose's leaf would lie.
Blown there by summer winds; the bird
Skim, lightly glancing by.
This was the Haunt of childhood;
Once there I seemed to grow
By many a lofty wall,
Where quaint old sentinels, in stone.
Kept watch and ward o'er all,
But opening southwards, shaded
By trees that swept the ground,
And kept the turf unfaded
And green, the summer round,
There was a little lake, and there
An island, and a boat
That lay 'mid shining water-flags
And lily-leaves afloat;
Smooth as the swards around them dipt,
Swept only by the wing
Of gauzy dragon-fly, that dipt
In many a mazy ring,
"Were those still waters; all unstirred
The rose's leaf would lie.
Blown there by summer winds; the bird
Skim, lightly glancing by.
This was the Haunt of childhood;
Once there I seemed to grow
