James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902.
May 23I Remember, I Remember
By Thomas Hood (17991845)
I
The house where I was born,
The little window where the sun
Came peeping in at morn;
He never came a wink too soon,
Nor brought too long a day;
But now, I often wish the night
Had borne my breath away!
The roses, red and white,
The violets, and the lily-cups—
Those flowers made of light!
And where my brother set
The laburnum on his birth-day,—
The tree is living yet!
Where I was used to swing,
And thought the air must rush as fresh
To swallows on the wing;
My spirit flew in feathers then,
That is so heavy now,
And summer pools could hardly cool
The fever on my brow!
The fir-trees dark and high;
I used to think their slender tops
Were close against the sky.
It was a childish ignorance,
But now ’tis little joy.
To know I’m farther off from heaven
Than when I was a boy.