Poems (Edwards)/Bring Back the Past

by Matilda Caroline Smiley Edwards

BRING BACK THE PAST. 

"Call them, let me see them." 

[Shakespeare.

Brine back the past, I fain would see
 The faces that I loved of yore,
Bring back the friends who used to be
 My playmates long, aye, long ago;
I know them well,—those who belonged
 To our familiar household band,
I knew them well,—those who have thronged
 The portal to the spirit land.

Bring back the past, the varied past,
 With all its hours of grief and pain,
I'd bear the tempest's wildest blast
 To taste its hopes and joys again;
Ah! brighter flowers have bloomed for me
 Than all the future can bestow,
The rose is gone, and now I see
 Ten thousand thorns around me grow.

Bring back the past to me once more,
 And though, alas! no longer mine,
I would review the number o'er
 Of those I loved in "Auld lang syne;"
Oh! call them back, e'en though they bring
 The shroud, the coffin, and the pall,
Let not oblivion's brooding wing
 Around their sacred memories fall.

Bring back the past, for there are friends
 And hopes, and joys, all buried there,
The bright smile with the tear-drop blends,
 And holiest memories there appear;
Roll back thy tide, thou sea of time!
 And bring me back the lost once more,
Bring back my childhood's sunny hours
 And all the joys of "long ago."