Ella Wheeler Wilcox

As We Look Back

            (rondeau)

As we look back at our lost Used-to-Be,
’The light that never was on land or sea’
   Touches the distant mountain peaks with gold,
   And through the glass of memory we behold
Such blossoms as grow not on any lea.

The double leaf upon the poplar tree
Turns up its silver side to you and me,
And glow-worm lanterns light the lonely wold
      As we look back.

No sounds we hear but echoes of young glee;
No winds we feel but west winds blowing free,
   From those fair isles that seem a thousandfold
   More beautiful than in the days of old;
And all the clouds that hang above them flee,
         As we look back.