When last we parted, thou wert young and fair,
...How beautiful let fond remembrance say!
...Alas! since then old time has stolen away
Full thirty years, leaving my temples bare.--
So has it perished like a thing of air,
...The dream of love and youth!--now both are grey
...Yet still remembering that delightful day,
Though time with his cold touch has blanched my hair,
...Though I suffered many years of pain
Since then, though I did never think to live
...To hear that voice or see those eyes again,
I can a sad but cordial greeting give,
And for thy welfare breathe as warm a prayer--
As when I loved thee young and fair.
Catherine Maria Fanshawe
