To Youth

O YOUTH, sweet comrade Youth, wouldst thou be gone?

Long have we dwelt together, thou and I;

Together drunk of many an alien dawn,

And plucked the fruit of many an alien sky.

Ah, fickle friend, must I, who yesterday

Dreamed forwards to long, undimmed ecstasy,

Henceforward dream, because thou wilt not stay,

Backward to transient pleasure and to thee?

I give thee back thy false, ephemeral vow;

But, O beloved comrade, ere we part,

Upon my mournful eyelids and my brow

Kiss me who hold thine image in my heart.