A MEMORY

I came across the marsh to-night,

And though the wind was cold,

I stayed a moment on the bridge

To note the paly gold

That lingered on the darkening bay;

The creek which ran below

Was frozen dumb; the dreary flats

Were overspread with snow.

The college bell began to ring,

And as the north wind blew

Its distant janglings out to sea,

I thought, dear Friend, of you;

And how one warm September day,

While yet the woods were green,

We strayed across the happy hills

And this wide marsh between.

The hay-stacks dotted here and there

The water-meadows wide:

The even lines of sluices black

Were filling with the tide.

Then this salt stream, now winter bound,

Fled softly through the sedge,

Retreating from the sparkling Sound;

And there along its edge

We strolled, and marked the far-off sloops,

And watched the cattle graze.

O'erhead the swallows rushed in troops,

While bright with purple haze,

West Rock looked down the winding plain —

Ah! this was long ago;

The summer's gone, and you are gone,

As everything must go.