CAN I forget the sweet days that have been, When poetry first began to warm my blood; When from the hills of Gwent I saw the earth Burned into two by Severn's silver flood: When I would go alone at night to see The moonlight, like a big white butterfly, Dreaming on that old castle near Caerleon, While at its side the Usk went softly by: When I would stare at lovely clouds in Heaven, Or watch them when reported by deep streams; When feeling pressed like thunder, but would not Break into that grand music of my dreams? Can I forget the sweet days that have been, The villages so green I have been in; Llantarnam, Magor, Malpas, and Llanwern, Liswery, old Caerleon, and Alteryn? Can I forget the banks of Malpas Brook, Or Ebbw's voice in such a wild delight, As on he dashed with pebbles in his throat, Gurgling towards the sea with all his might? Ah, when I see a leafy village now I sigh and ask it for Llantarnam's green; I ask each river where is Ebbw's voice -- In memory of the sweet days that have been. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HELEN, THE SAD QUEEN by PAUL VALERY THE TEARES OF THE MUSES by EDMUND SPENSER ON THOSE THAT HATED 'THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD' by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS COLONIAL SET by ALFRED GOLDSWORTHY BAILEY FIAMMETTA: SONNET. TO DANTE IN PARADISE by GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO BREVITY by MARY NICHOL CAMPBELL |