HOW swift the days fled, one by one, In Arcadie, in Arcadie! And when we thought them just begun, (Those happy days!) the last was gone, And we no more might linger on In arcadie. Fair days, descending from the blue On Arcadie, on Arcadie! Some queens, and crowned with diamond dew, By gleaming robes of sunlight gold Enwrapt, in many a wind-swayed fold, In Arcadie. And some were Quakers clad in gray In Arcadie, in Arcadie; And passed serenely on their way, Silent, as pondering some sweet thought, From Goethe or from Homer brought, In Arcadie. Some days were angels, white and tall, In Arcadie, in Arcadie, Who led us to confessional, There bade us of our sins repent, And softly blessed us ere we went, In Arcadie. And oreads some, lithe-limbed and strong, In Arcadie, in Arcadie -- With laughing eyes, forever young; Our guides were they to mount and glen, Green-robed, like Robin's merry men, In Arcadie. And lo! we stood on many a height In Arcadie, in Arcadie; The stream that lay in curves of light Before our feet, through yon blue rift Rolled seaward, silently and swift, Through Arcadie. That mountain-barrier, faint and far Round Arcadie, round Arcadie, It shut us in with moon and star, With sunset splendors, dawn delights, And all the train of silver nights, In Arcadie! * * * * * * * * And some there met who ne'er will part, In Arcadie, in Arcadie; For lands divide not heart from heart, And friends are friends on sea or shore, Although they wander nevermore In Arcadie! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WHEN MALINDY SINGS by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR IT COULDN'T BE DONE by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST THE SHEPHERD OF KING ADMETUS by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL FLOWERS WITHOUT FRUIT by JOHN HENRY NEWMAN TO MY EXCELLENT LUCASIA, ON OUR FRIENDSHIP. 17TH JULY 1651 by KATHERINE PHILIPS NATHAHNI AND SOYAZHE by FRANCES DAVIS ADAMS THE IMPROVISATORE: THE INDUCTION TO THE THIRD FYTTE by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES |