Flight the Third. Changed

“November 25, 1847. [In Portland.] After church, walked with Fessenden to the ‘gallows’ that used to be,—a fine hillside, looking down and over the cove.” This was the scene of Changed, but the poem was not written till 1858, when the poet was on a visit to Portland.

FROM the outskirts of the town,

Where of old the mile-stone stood,

Now a stranger, looking down,

I behold the shadowy crown

Of the dark and haunted wood.

Is it changed, or am I changed?

Ah! the oaks are fresh and green,

But the friends with whom I ranged

Through their thickets are estranged

By the years that intervene.

Bright as ever flows the sea,

Bright as ever shines the sun,

But alas! they seem to me

Not the sun that used to be,

Not the tides that used to run.

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