The Old Familiar Faces

I have had playmates, I have had companions
In my days of childhood, in my joyful school-days
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces

I have been laughing, I have been carousing
Drinking late, sitting late, with my bosom cronies
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces

I loved a love once, fairest among women;
Closed are her doors on me, I must not see her —
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces

I have a friend, a kinder friend has no man;
Like an ingrate, I left my friend abruptly;
Left him, to muse on the old familiar faces

Ghost-like, I paced round the haunts of my childhood
Earth seemed a desert I was bound to traverse
Seeking to find the old familiar faces

Friend of my bosom, thou more than a brother
Why wert not thou born in my father's dwelling?
So might we talk of the old familiar faces —

How some they have died, and some they have left me
And some are taken from me; all are departed;
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces