Come Back! Come Back!

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!