Eugene Lee-Hamilton (1845-1907). Lost Years. Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. 1922. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse

Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.

Lost Years

By Eugene Lee-Hamilton (1845–1907)


MY boyhood went: it went where went the trace
Left by the pony’s hoofs upon the sand;
It went where went the stream sought rod in hand;
It went where went the ice on the pond’s face.
Then went my youth: it went where Dawn doth chase	5
The ballroom’s lights away with pearly wand;
It went where went the echoes of the band;
It went where go the nights that steal Day’s place.

And now my manhood goes where goes the song
Of captive birds, the cry of crippled things;	10
It goes where goes the day that unused dies.
The cage is narrow and the bars are strong
In which my restless spirit beats its wings;
And round me stretch unfathomable skies.