Old Song

TIS a dull sight
&nbsp To see the year dying,
When winter winds
&nbsp Set the yellow wood sighing:
&nbsp Sighing, O sighing!

When such a time cometh
&nbsp I do retire
Into an old room
&nbsp Beside a bright fire:
&nbsp O, pile a bright fire!

And there I sit
&nbsp Reading old things,
Of knights and lorn damsels,
&nbsp While the wind sings--
&nbsp O, drearily sings!

I never look out
&nbsp Nor attend to the blast;
For all to be seen
&nbsp Is the leaves falling fast:
&nbsp Falling, falling!

But close at the hearth,
&nbsp Like a cricket, sit I,
Reading of summer
&nbsp And chivalry--
&nbsp Gallant chivalry!

Then with an old friend
&nbsp I talk of our youth--
How 'twas gladsome, but often
&nbsp Foolish, forsooth:
&nbsp But gladsome, gladsome!

Or, to get merry,
&nbsp We sing some old rhyme
That made the wood ring again
&nbsp In summer time--
&nbsp Sweet summer time!

Then go we smoking,
&nbsp Silent and snug:
Naught passes between us,
&nbsp Save a brown jug--
&nbsp Sometimes!

And sometimes a tear
&nbsp Will rise in each eye,
Seeing the two old friends
&nbsp So merrily--
&nbsp So merrily!

And ere to bed
&nbsp Go we, go we,
Down on the ashes
&nbsp We kneel on the knee,
&nbsp Praying together!

Thus, then, live I
&nbsp Till, 'mid all the gloom,
By Heaven! the bold sun
&nbsp Is with me in the room
&nbsp Shining, shining!

Then the clouds part,
&nbsp Swallows soaring between;
The spring is alive,
&nbsp And the meadows are green!

I jump up like mad,
&nbsp Break the old pipe in twain,
And away to the meadows,
&nbsp The meadows again!