My Birth-Day.
STRANGE feelings wildly throng around my heart
On this my natal day. They seem to come
Like mournful spirits from the distant past,
And from the dim, sad future. Down, far down
Into my soul I gaze, and memory,
The wizard, that bears sway in that lone realm,
Calls perished joys and hopes from out their graves,
And bids them glow, and live, and breathe, and I
Seem once again a happy child amid
The scenes of other days, with long-lost friends
Clasping my hand, or sitting at my side,
And murmuring in my ear their gentle tones
Of melody and love.
On this my natal day. They seem to come
Like mournful spirits from the distant past,
And from the dim, sad future. Down, far down
Into my soul I gaze, and memory,
The wizard, that bears sway in that lone realm,
Calls perished joys and hopes from out their graves,
And bids them glow, and live, and breathe, and I
Seem once again a happy child amid
The scenes of other days, with long-lost friends
Clasping my hand, or sitting at my side,
And murmuring in my ear their gentle tones
Of melody and love.
