'TWAS yesterday; 'twas long ago: <br />And for this flaunting grimy street, <br />And for this crowding to and fro, <br />And thud and roar of wheels and feet, <br />Were elm-trees and the linnet's trill, <br />The little gurgles of the rill, <br />And breath of meadow-flowers that blow <br />Ere roses make the summer sweet. <br /> <br />'Twas long ago; 'twas yesterday: <br />Our peach would just be new with leaves, <br />The swallow pair that used to lay <br />Their glimmering eggs beneath our eaves <br />Would flutter busy with their brood, <br />And, haply, in our hazel-wood, <br />Small village urchins hide at play, <br />And girls sit binding blue-bell sheaves. <br /> <br />Was the house here, or there, or there? <br />No landmark tells. All changed; all lost; <br />As when the waves that fret and tear <br />The fore-shores of some level coast <br />Roll smoothly where the sea-pinks grew. <br />All changed, and all grown old anew; <br />And I pass over, unaware, <br />The memories I am seeking most. <br /> <br />But where these huddled house-rows spread, <br />And where this thickened air hangs murk <br />And the dim sun peers round and red <br />On stir and haste and cares and work, <br />For me were baby's daisy-chains <br />,For me the meetings in the lanes, <br />The shy good-morrows softly said <br />That paid my morning's lying lurk. <br /> <br />Oh lingering days of long ago, <br />Not until now you passed away. <br />Years wane between and we unknow; <br />Our youth is always yesterday <br />.But, like a traveller home who craves <br />For friends and finds forgotten graves, <br />I seek you where you dwelt, and, lo, <br />Even farewells not left to say.<br /><br />Augusta Davies Webster<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/where-home-was/
