How sweet to me the memories of happy days of youth,
When my heart was full of gladness and my smile was full of truth;
When everything, I gazed upon seemed beautiful and fair,
And all the livelong summer day I never knew a care;
When I could scarcely understand such things as grief and woe;—
Ah! those were happy, happy days,—those summers long ago!
The merry birds sang joyously, the sun shone brighter then,
The flow'rets grew more fragrantly down in the grassy glen,
The waters had a brighter flash, and bluer was the sky,
And greener were the forest trees that waved their branches high,
And sweeter was the gentle breeze that thrilled a music low
Throughout my heart, and made me love those summers long ago.
Then, stretched beneath the forest trees, upon the ground I lay,
And heard the rustling of their leaves through the long summer day;
The happy carol of the thrush, the blackbird's whistle clear,
Like softly whispered melodies fell gently on my ear,
And like Æolian harpings sweet the prattling brooklet's flow
Gushing and bright came o'er my heart in summers long ago.
And when the sun with fiery face was sinking fast to rest,
And evening's dim pale glimmering star was twinkling in the west,
Oh, how I loved to wander then at twilight's dreamy hour,
To feel the freshness of the breeze, the fragrance of the flower,—
To gaze in transport at the heavens, and wonder at the glow—
The purpling glow of eventide in summers long ago!
Ah! those indeed were happy days; my heart knew nought of guile,
And all God's earth then seemed to me one universal smile!
And oft amid this stern world's strife my memory ponders o'er,
And fondly dwells upon those days,—those joyous days of yore:
The silent stars may cease to shine, and all things fade below,
But I never, never can forget the summers long ago!
When my heart was full of gladness and my smile was full of truth;
When everything, I gazed upon seemed beautiful and fair,
And all the livelong summer day I never knew a care;
When I could scarcely understand such things as grief and woe;—
Ah! those were happy, happy days,—those summers long ago!
The merry birds sang joyously, the sun shone brighter then,
The flow'rets grew more fragrantly down in the grassy glen,
The waters had a brighter flash, and bluer was the sky,
And greener were the forest trees that waved their branches high,
And sweeter was the gentle breeze that thrilled a music low
Throughout my heart, and made me love those summers long ago.
Then, stretched beneath the forest trees, upon the ground I lay,
And heard the rustling of their leaves through the long summer day;
The happy carol of the thrush, the blackbird's whistle clear,
Like softly whispered melodies fell gently on my ear,
And like Æolian harpings sweet the prattling brooklet's flow
Gushing and bright came o'er my heart in summers long ago.
And when the sun with fiery face was sinking fast to rest,
And evening's dim pale glimmering star was twinkling in the west,
Oh, how I loved to wander then at twilight's dreamy hour,
To feel the freshness of the breeze, the fragrance of the flower,—
To gaze in transport at the heavens, and wonder at the glow—
The purpling glow of eventide in summers long ago!
Ah! those indeed were happy days; my heart knew nought of guile,
And all God's earth then seemed to me one universal smile!
And oft amid this stern world's strife my memory ponders o'er,
And fondly dwells upon those days,—those joyous days of yore:
The silent stars may cease to shine, and all things fade below,
But I never, never can forget the summers long ago!