Classic Poem

I.

Hear you not the merry sound?
Gather to the fairy round,
'Tis the hour, 'tis the hour,
When the gentle signs abound, —
When the bud begins to flower,
When the moon, with placid power,
Soothes and lights the happy ground.

II.

Leap you not to that array,
Purest hearts in pleasant play? —
Would you lose, would you lose,
Aught of such a holiday, —
While the songs of such a muse,
Lead the chain'd soul where they choose,
Far, in boyhood's world, away?

III.

Sweet to watch that pleasant game,
Chaste but lovely, free from shame;
Childhood sweet, childhood sweet, —
Eyes of fire you would not tame: —
On the floor the rapid beat
Of the music-mocking feet,
The free laugh and wild acclaim!

IV.

Oh! this future on the floor,
How it doth the past restore! —
In our eye, in our eye,
Stands the maid we loved of yore, —
When, like him, the urchin mgh,
First we learn'd to love and sigh,
As we love and sigh no more.