Oft, in the Stilly Night (Scotch Air)
- Oft, in the stilly night,
- Ere slumber's chain has bound me,
- Fond memory brings the light
- Of other days around me;
- The smiles, the tears,
- Of boyhood's years,
- The words of love then spoken;
- The eyes that shone,
- Now dimm'd and gone,
- The cheerful hearts now broken!
- Thus, in the stilly night,
- Ere slumber's chain hath bound me,
- Sad memory brings the light
- Of other days around me.
-
- When I remember all
- The friends, so link'd together,
- I've seen around me fall,
- Like leaves in wintry weather;
- I feel like one
- Who treads alone
- Some banquet-hall deserted,
- Whose lights are fled,
- Whose garlands dead,
- And all but he departed!
- Thus, in the stilly night,
- Ere slumber's chain has bound me,
- Sad memory brings the light
- Of other days around me.
First published in Lalla Rookh, an oriental romance, 1817, by Longman, London.
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