Like the ghost of a dear friend dead <br />Is Time long past. <br />A tone which is now forever fled, <br />A hope which is now forever past, <br />A love so sweet it could not last, <br />Was Time long past. <br /> <br />There were sweet dreams in the night <br />Of Time long past: <br />And, was it sadness or delight, <br />Each day a shadow onward cast <br />Which made us wish it yet might last-- <br />That Time long past. <br /> <br />There is regret, almost remorse, <br />For Time long past. <br />'Tis like a child's belovèd corse <br />A father watches, till at last <br />Beauty is like remembrance, cast <br />From Time long past.<br /><br />Percy Bysshe Shelley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/time-long-past/