The Madisonian

MEMORY.

Oh! why should Memory love to dwell
On pleasure which can come no more.
And why should Fancy's magic spell
So brightly gild each scene of yore?
E'en Hope's delusive, glittering beam.
May cease to shed its cheering light:
And dull and cold, Time's onward stream
May flow before the aching sight.

But Memory, like a fairy dream,
Still haunts the pensive view.
And, like mild Evening's lingering beam
Clothes fading scenes in loveliest hue.

The Past, with all its glittering train,
Of joys, so sweet, so quickly fled.
At Memory's touch returns again.
To cheer the heart whose hopes are dead.

Fond Retrospection lingers near
Each look of bliss which could not last,
And links again that chain so dear,
Which Memory flings around the past.

Hopes, Friendships, Loves--a seraph band--
Which Time's cold blast had rudely torn,
As Memory waves her magic wand.
With more than former bliss return.

They come, like Music's distant breath,
So soft, so sweet their whisperings are--
And fadeless is that lovely wreath
With which they bind the brow of care.

Oh! Memory's joys will always last--
No cloud can dim their brilliant ray;
Still bright and brighter grows the past
As Hope's sweet visions fade away.