Come back! come back! thou youthful Time,
When joy and innocence were ours,
When life was in its vernal prime,
And redolent of sweets and flowers.
Come back--and let us roam once more,
Free-hearted, through life's pleasant ways,
And gather garlands as of yore--
Come back--come back--ye happy days!
Come back! come back!--'twas pleasant then
To cherish faith in love and truth,
For nothing in dispraise of men
Had sour'd the temper of our youth.
Come back--and let us still believe
The gorgeous dream romance displays,
Nor trust the tale that men deceive--
Come back--come back--ye happy days!
Come back!--oh, freshness of the past,
When every face seem'd fair and kind,
When sunward every eye was cast,
And all the shadows fell behind.
Come back--'twill come; true hearts can turn
Their own Decembers into Mays;
The secret be it ours to learn--
Come back--come back--ye happy days!