Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Not Quite the Same

Not quite the same the springtime seems to me, 
Since that sad season when in separate ways
Our paths diverged. There are no more such days
As dawned for us in that last time when we
Dwelt in the realm of dreams, illusive dreams; 
Spring may be just as fair now, but it seems
Not quite the same.

Not quite the same in life, since we two parted, 
Knowing it best to go our ways alone.
Fair measures of success we both have known, 
And pleasant hours; and yet something departed
Which gold, nor fame, nor anything we win, 
Can all replace. And either life has been
Not quite the same.

Love is not quite the same, although each heart
Has formed new ties, that are both sweet and true; 
But that wild rapture, which of old we knew, 
Seems to have been a something set apart
With that lost dream. There is no passion, now, 
Mixed with this later love, which seems, somehow, 
Not quite the same.

Not quite the same am I. My inner being
Reasons and knows that all is for the best.
Yet vague regrets stir always in my breast, 
As my souls eyes turn sadly backward, seeing
The vanished self, that evermore must be, 
This side of what we call eternity, 
Not quite the same.