Youth

Don’t you recall when apples grew, Oh, twice as big as now? When fish, however they were few, Were monster ones somehow? When Gaines’s mill-dam made a roar As though the water hurled Were gathered in a mighty store From all the wide, wide world?

Don’t you remember when the trees, The oak trees and the beech, Were lost in clouds on days like these And eyes could hardly reach Their waving tops? When noonday skies Were oh, such deeper blue? When Jack’s great bean stalk in our eyes Just grew and grew and grew?

And there were bells, so more than fine, Of blue and white and red, Upon the morning glory vine That climbed up on the shed, To be a wonder and delight, So fresh and full of dew, To bud and open in a night night-- I see them now--don’t you?

Don’t you remember when the caves Were thick and full of gloom, Where captive maidens, once, like slaves, Were chained in some damp room? When twilight rustling in the brush Was some fierce beast? A cow It was, but cows at dusk are--Hush! I think I hear one now.

Come, take a little trip with me, Forget the things that fret, For you may close your eyes and see Some things that I forget. Why, I’ve seen Bluebeard’s hidden room And Cinderella’s shoe! And I have seen where violets bloom bloom-- So blue! So blue! So blue!