My Lost Youth

10I can see the shadowy lines of its trees,

11And catch, in sudden gleams,

12The sheen of the far-surrounding seas,

13And islands that were the Hesperides

14Of all my boyish dreams.

15And the burden of that old song,

16It murmurs and whispers still:

17"A boy's will is the wind's will,

18And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

19I remember the black wharves and the ships,

20And the sea-tides tossing free;

21And Spanish sailors with bearded lips,

22And the beauty and mystery of the ships,

23And the magic of the sea.

24And the voice of that wayward song

25Is singing and saying still:

26"A boy's will is the wind's will,

27And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

28I remember the bulwarks by the shore,

29And the fort upon the hill;

30The sunrise gun, with its hollow roar,

31The drum-beat repeated o'er and o'er,

32And the bugle wild and shrill.

33And the music of that old song

34Throbs in my memory still:

35"A boy's will is the wind's will,

36And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

37I remember the sea-fight far away,

38How it thundered o'er the tide!

39And the dead captains, as they lay

40In their graves, o'erlooking the tranquil bay

41Where they in battle died.

42And the sound of that mournful song

43Goes through me with a thrill:

44"A boy's will is the wind's will,

45And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

46I can see the breezy dome of groves,

47The shadows of Deering's Woods;

48And the friendships old and the early loves

49Come back with a Sabbath sound, as of doves

50In quiet neighborhoods.

51And the verse of that sweet old song,

52It flutters and murmurs still:

53"A boy's will is the wind's will,

54And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

55I remember the gleams and glooms that dart

56Across the school-boy's brain;

57The song and the silence in the heart,

58That in part are prophecies, and in part

59Are longings wild and vain.

60And the voice of that fitful song

61Sings on, and is never still:

62"A boy's will is the wind's will,

63And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

64There are things of which I may not speak;

65There are dreams that cannot die;

66There are thoughts that make the strong heart weak,

67And bring a pallor into the cheek,

68And a mist before the eye.

69And the words of that fatal song

70Come over me like a chill:

71"A boy's will is the wind's will,

72And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

73Strange to me now are the forms I meet

74When I visit the dear old town;

75But the native air is pure and sweet,

76And the trees that o'ershadow each well-known street,

77As they balance up and down,

78Are singing the beautiful song,

79Are sighing and whispering still:

80"A boy's will is the wind's will,

81And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

82And Deering's Woods are fresh and fair,

83And with joy that is almost pain

84My heart goes back to wander there,

85And among the dreams of the days that were,

86I find my lost youth again.

87And the strange and beautiful song,

88The groves are repeating it still:

89"A boy's will is the wind's will,

90And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."