Classic Poem

One by one they pass away,
Days, like white ships which sail peacefully
From the shore, yet come not back again.
And their freight is Life, and Love, and lesser things,
Yet as beautiful and good. And ever they set sail
Under golden suns for sea,
Till the summer is gone and shadows fall so gloomily,
At Edgewater!

When the winds of autumn blow
Through the brown vines swinging mournfully,
Calling for the sun disconsolate,
And the rain falls, and the spirit of the deep,
Grieving for the summer, chants its death-song of the sun,
It is lonely by the sea,
And the heart is haunted by unhappy memory,
At Edgewater.

Yet again a golden day
Gilds the blue wave flowing tranquilly,
And a sudden splendor lights the shore,
And the heart of autumn, trembling, turneth warm,
As though summer loitered in it dreaming of the sun.
By-gone dreams, and dreams to be,
Their white shadows on the soul reflect ceaselessly,