The Return
He sought the old scenes with eager feet, –
The scenes he had known as a boy;
“Oh! for a draught of those fountains sweet,
And a taste of that vanished joy.”
He roamed the fields, he mused by the streams,
He threaded the paths and lanes;
On the hills he sought his youthful dreams,
In the woods to forget his pains.
Oh, sad, sad, hills; oh, cold, cold hearth!
In sorrow he learned the truth, –
One may go back to the place of his birth, –
He cannot go back to his youth.
This is so true.
I’ve searched for this poem for years! I had read it in a book of masterpiece poems which sadly, I lost in a fire. Thank you for posting!
Glad you found it! 🙂