Years Ago.

    This day it was--Ah! years ago,
Long years ago, when first we met;
When first her voice thrill'd through my heart,
Aeolian-sweet, thrill'd through my heart;
    And glances from her soft brown eyes,
    Like gleamings out of Paradise,
Shone on my heart, and made it bright
With fulness of celestial light;
This day it seems--this day--and yet,
    Ah! years ago--long years ago.

    This day it was--Ah! years ago,
Long years ago, when first I knew
How all her beauty fill'd my soul,
With mystic glory fill'd my soul;
    And every word and smile she gave,
    Like motions of a sunlit wave,
Rock'd me with divine emotion,
Joyous, o'er Life's smiling ocean;
This day it seems--this day--and yet,
    Ah! years ago--long years ago.

    This day it was--Ah! years ago,
Long years ago, when first I heard,
Amid the silence of my soul,
The fearful silence of my soul,
    That warning voice of doom declare--
    O God! unmoved by my despair--
How her soft eyes would lose their light,
Their holy, pure, and stainless light,
And all the beauty of her being
Fade sadly, swiftly from my seeing;
This day it seems--Ah me! this day,
    Though years ago--sad years ago.

    This day it was--Ah! years ago,
Long years ago, when dumb I stood
Beside that little grass-green mound--
Would I had lain beneath the mound!--
    And gazed out through my briny tears,
    Upon the future lonely years,
    Upon the cold, bleak, cheerless years,
Till Earth should ope her grassy breast,
And take me to my welcome rest,
Where she in Death's cold arms lay prest;
This day it seems--Ah me! this day,
    Though years ago--sad years ago.

    This day it was--Ah! years ago,
Long years ago; and yet I still
Gaze through moist eyes upon the Past,
The cherish'd, unforgotten Past;
    Gaze onward through the coming days,
    And wonder, with a sweet amaze,
What sunrise with its rosy light
Will bring her to my longing sight;
    What sunset with its golden glow
    Will o'er the long-sought slumber flow,
Amid whose visions she shall gleam,
As once she did through youth's sweet dream,
    Ah! years ago--long years ago.

Walter R. Cassels

Walter R. Cassels was a British poet and author primarily known for his collection of religious poetry, "Supernatural Religion" published in the late 19th century. Though the work was initially published anonymously, it sparked considerable controversy and debate over its skeptical views on Christianity and the supernatural. Cassels' style is marked by thought-provoking themes and meticulous craftsmanship, placing him among notable literary figures of his time.

Walter R. Cassels

At Eventide.

Walter R. Cassels, Simple Poetry

The Olden Time.

Walter R. Cassels, Simple Poetry

A Conceit.

Walter R. Cassels, Simple Poetry

At Parting.

Walter R. Cassels, Simple Poetry

English

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The Olden Time.

O! well I mind the olden time,
    The sweet, sweet olden time;
When I did long for eve all day,
    And watch'd upon the new-mown grass
    The shadows slowly eastward pass,
And o'er the meadows glide away,
    Till I could steal, with heart elate,
    Unto the little cottage-gate,
In the sweet, sweet olden time.

O! well I mind the olden time,
    The sweet, sweet olden time;
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With greetings to the day new-born;
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    I hoped to meet her at the gate,
In the sweet, sweet olden time.

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Wytham Woods.

'Mid the waving Woods of Wytham,
    Now so far, so far from me,
    Where the grand old beeches be,
And the deer-herds feeding by them:
'Mid the mossy Woods of Wytham,
    Oft I roam in memory;

Down the grand wide-arching alleys,
    Marged by plumy ferns and flowers,
    Whence all through the noontide hours
Many a fearless leveret sallies;
For amid those grassy alleys
    Never hound nor huntsman scours.

Still I see, through leafy casements,
    Wytham Hall so quaint and old,
    Remnant of the age of gold,
Gabled o'er from roof to basement
In most fanciful enlacement,
    Looking far o'er wood and wold;

With the mere outspread before it;
    Whitest swans upon its tide,
    That in mystic beauty glide;
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To My Dream-Love.

Where art thou, oh! my Beautiful? Afar
    I seek thee sadly, till the day is done,
    And o'er the splendour of the setting sun,
Cold, calm, and silvery, floats the evening star;
    Where art thou? Ah! where art thou, hid in light
    That haunts me, yet still wraps thee from my sight?

Not wholly--ah! not wholly--still Love's eyes
    Trace thy dim beauty through the mystic veil,
    Like the young moon that glimmers faint and pale,
At noontide through the sun-web of the skies;
    But ah! I ope mine arms, and thou art gone,
    And only Memory knows where thou hast shone.

Night--Night the tender, the compassionate,
    Binds thee, gem-like, amid her raven hair;
    I dream--I see--I feel that thou art there--
And stand all weeping at Sleep's golden ...

Walter R. Cassels

Song.

The days are past, the days are past,
    When we did meet, my love and I;
And youthful joys are fading fast,
    Like radiant angels up the sky;
But still with every dawning day
    Come back the blessed thoughts of old,
Like sunshine in a morn of May,
    To keep the heart from growing cold.

The flowers are gone, the leaves are shed,
    That waved about us as we stray'd;
And many a bird for aye has fled,
    That chaunted to us from the glade;
Yet every leaf and flower that springs
    In beauty round the ripening year,
And every summer carol brings
    New sweetness from the old time dear.

Walter R. Cassels

A Night Scene.

The lights have faded from the little casement,
    As though her closing eyes had brought on night;
    And now she dreams--Ah! dreams supremely bright,
While silence reigns around from roof to basement.
    And slow the moon is mounting up the sky,
Drawing Heaven's myriads in her queenly train,
    Flinging rich largesse, as she passes by,
Of beauty freely over hill and plain.

Around the lattice creep the pure white roses,
    And one light bough rests gently on the pane,
    The diamond pane, through which the angel train
Gaze on the sister saint who there reposes;
    The moonlight silvers softly o'er it now;
And round the eaves the south wind whispers lowly,
    Waving the leaves like curls on maiden's brow;
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Walter R. Cassels

The Dark River.

    Across the mountains and the hills,
Across the valleys and the swelling seas,
    By lakes and rivers whose deep murmur fills
Earth's dreams with sweet prophetic melodies,
    Together have we come unto this place,
    And here we say farewell a little space:

    You, backward turning through the land,
To tarry 'mid its beauty yet awhile--
    I, o'er the River, to another strand
With cheerful heart, so part we with a smile.
    Shall space have any power o'er god-like souls?
    Love shall bridge o'er the stream that 'twixt us rolls!

    Together wend we to the tide,
And as the first wave wets my foot, we part;--
    E'en now methinks I see the other side;
And, though the stream be swift, a steady heart
    And stalwart arm shall quell its col...

Walter R. Cassels