Poems (Holley)/The Land of Long Ago

by Marietta Holley

THE LAND OF LONG AGO.

Now while the crimson light fades in the west,
 And twilight drops her purple shadows low—
We stand with Memory on the mountain's crest,
 That overlooks the land of Long Ago.

Unmoved and still the form beside us stands,
 While mournful tears our heavy eyes o'erflow,
As silently he lifts his shadowy hands,
 And points us to the land of Long Ago.

It lies in beauty 'neath our sad eyes' range,
 Bathed in a richer light, a warmer glow;
For fairer moons, and sunsets rare and strange,
 Illume the landscape of the Long Ago.

We see its vales of peace, its hills of light
 Shine in the rosy air, ah! well we know—
That nevermore will bless our yearning sight,
 So fair and dear a land as Long Ago.

We see the gleaming spires of those high halls
 We garnished with bright gems and precious show;
No foot within the gilded doorway falls,
 Empty the rooms within the Long Ago.

Troops of white doves still haunt the shining towers,
 And fold in blissful calm, their wings of snow;
We bade them build their nests in brighter bowers,
 But still they linger in the Long Ago.

There in its sunny bay stand stately ships,
 We freighted for fair lands where we would go;
Still gleams our gold within their secret crypts,
 Becalmed beside the shore of Long Ago.

Between that land and this of dread and doubt,
 The silent years have drifted trackless snow;
Hiding the pathway where we wandered out,
 Forever from the land of Long Ago.