Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
Poems of Sentiment: III. Memory“Oft in the stilly night”
Thomas Moore (1779–1852)O
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Fond Memory brings the light
Of other days around me:
The smiles, the tears,
Of boyhood’s years,
The words of love then spoken;
The eyes that shone,
Now dimmed and gone,
The cheerful hearts now broken.
Thus in the stilly night,
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Sad Memory brings the light
Of other days around me.
The friends so linked together
I ’ve seen around me fall,
Like leaves in wintry weather,
I feel like one
Who treads alone
Some banquet-hall deserted,
Whose lights are fled,
Whose garlands dead,
And all but he departed.
Thus in the stilly night,
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Sad Memory brings the light
Of other days around me.