In dreamy days of boyhood and of youth
Sweet Poesy whispered often in mine ear;
And I could then with voice distinct and clear
Repeat her ditties: but of late, in sooth,
The sterner mandates of unflattering Truth
Have filled my hearing, making not less dear
High strains of verse; but hallowing with fear
My thoughts and keen remorse, and backward ruth.

Therefore farewell, ye pleasant melodies
Of song, heroic, holy or pastoral:
Farewell, ye shades and voiceful forests all;
No more along your sward--paths dark with trees
Shall wander he, who, lightly skilled to please,
Could yet from leaf and rock poetic numbers call.