Time Long Past

[Lorenzo]

by: Percy Bysshe Shelley

   Like the ghost of a dear friend dead
              Is Time long past.
              A tone which is now forever fled,
              A hope which is now forever past,
              A love so sweet it could not last,
              Was Time long past.

              There were sweet dreams in the night
              Of Time long past:
              And, was it sadness or delight,
              Each day a shadow onward cast
              Which made us wish it yet might last--
              That Time long past.

            There is regret, almost remorse,
            For Time long past.
            'Tis like a child's belovèd corse
            A father watches, till at last
            Beauty is like remembrance, cast
            From Time long past.