Page:Poems Toke.djvu/132

124

LINES.

TRANGE, strange! what rushing memories come
 With that familiar strain;
And how within mine own old home,
 I seem to live again!
Belovèd forms are floating near,
 Yet still I feel alone
Glad voices ring upon mine ear,
 Yet mournful is their tone.

Oh! ever thus, on Memory's dream,
 A tinge of grief is cast,
And shadows deep though softened, seem
 To linger o'er the past:
E'en when the thought of youthful joy
 Almost to mirth beguiles,
We mingle light with shade, and sigh
 Amid remembered smiles.

It is not that grief presses now,
 Or joy has passed away,—
Perchance a better, calmer glow,
 Illumes life's noontide day;