Classic Poem

Think ye that joys I never knew,
That ever thus my lay was sad?
Not so—my days once brightly flew,
With lays of love my life was glad.
The presence sweet of her I loved
Made flow'rs to bloom throughout the year;
What morning's dreams had promised, proved
Reality when eve drew near.

To joys of mine might witness bear
The sky's bright blue, the streamlet's sheen,
The grove with sprouting branches fair,
The garden gay and meadow green.
For these have oft beheld me glad,
For these full oft have heard my lays;
But ah! they now seem alway sad,
No charms fair nature now displays.

But witness thou, my love, mine own,
That art so far and yet so near,
Thou mind'st my childlike happy tone,
Thou mind'st my looks of blissful cheer.
Each knew so well the other's thought,
Our eyes alone our meaning told;
For us life's stream dashed onward, fraught
With music gushing uncontrolled.

Thou partedst hence, the world to me
Was void, I shrank within my breast;
The soothing plaints of minstrelsy
Were all my comfort, all my rest.
What can I, save in mournful strain
Recount the past so dear to me,
And still expect, with longing pain,
The golden love-time yet to be?