Poems (Charlotte Allen)/On returning some Letters

by Charlotte Allen

ON RETURNING SOME LETTERS.

Take back these little pledges,
 Thou gav'st in bye-gone years;
Calmly I resign them all,
 Though moistened with my tears.

They breathe a tale of pleasure,
 Enjoyed at friendship's shrine;
Though they have gone forever,
 Remembrance still is mine.

I was in the roseate morning
 Of earlier, happier days,
When life's unclouded sunshine,
 Breathed but of blissful lays;—

That we. these dear mementos
 Exchanged, with feelings pure,
Believing that cur friendship,
 Forever would endure.

But time has thrown a shadow
 O'er all those happy hours,
And we have each discovered,
 Thorns, e'er will mix with flowers.

Now, take them back, oh, take them,
 And when they 've left my sight,
Then, then may I recover,
 My spirit's buoyant light.

And though I now resign them,
 I will not mourn the past,
While memory's beams shall gladden
 Those hours, too sweet to last.