Classic Poem

I.

Three happy days we had been out
Among the awful hills,
Learning their secrets by the sides
Of dark, untrodden rills.

II.

We had companions all the day —
Rainbows and silver gleams;
And quiet rivers all the night
To mingle with our dreams.

III.

We spoke of great and solemn things,
Like earnest-minded men,
And often rode unheedingly
Through many a wooded glen.

IV.

We talked about the early Church,
Her martyrs keen and bold,
And what perchance might now befall
The same dear Church grown old.

V.

We went into each other's hearts,
And rifled all the treasure
That books and thinking had laid up
In academic leisure.

VI.

And now we are so wearied out
With all this high debate,
We have not mentioned once to-night
The name of Church or State.

VII.

With sweet revenge the silver meres
We slighted on our ride,
With shadowy trees all glassed therein,
Rise in us like a tide.

VIII.

Ah who could see us sitting thus,
Yon mill-stream falling nigh,
And yet gainsay the soothing bliss
Of silent company?