Classic Poem

MEMORY.

O Memory , sweet sorceress of time,
Strange saddener of hours brightest in our Past,
Yet sweet in dreamy sadness — thou hast cast
Thy magic chain around me. Now the chime
Of faint departing voices wins my soul
Back to the unseen altar where the heart
Once poured its fullest worship; lightnings dart
Electric, — yet no startling thunders roll,
But only murmur distantly and sad.
'Tis there thou dwell'st, unnamed but unforgot,
O vision once so dear! a different lot
Is thine, is mine, and we have truly had
All that this life could portion us together,
Parted at length by storms of wintry weather.