Poetry Archives

O, gentle shade of quiet woods,
  Where nature dwells in leafy halls,
  I love the sacred voice that falls
In music o’er thy solitudes!
Within thine arms the weary heart
  Is hidden from the toils of men,
And pleasure makes ambition start
  Into a nobler life again.

Among the fragrant shadows throng
  With all the riches of their truth,
  Glad echoes from the days of youth
And mingle into laughing song;
While angel fingers touch the keys
  That slumber in the silent breast,
Till mem’ry wakes her lullabies
  And childhood fancies rock to rest.

Again the hours of early joy
  Upon the aged years intrude,
  And dance amid the summer wood
The golden dreamings of the boy;
Again the songs of wonder thrill
  The days of life with gladness wild,
And lofty visions fondly fill
  The longing fancies of the child.

Enchanted choirs of baby years,
  Sweet dirges from the cradle’s keys,
  The glories of your harmonies
Impel my secret soul to tears!
The roses of my fancies fade
  Into the dust of wicked strife,
And all the promise boyhood made
  Has proved the desert of my life.

O, fragrant woods of happy times,
  Fair children of the glowing days,
  How sweet the music of your lays
Is mingled into fairy chimes!
Ye lisp again the songs of yore,
  The stories of my infant years,
And throw a sweeter cadence o’er
  My hoary sorrows and my tears!