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AN ANNIVERSARY
    So long, so short,
     So swift, so slow,
    Are the years of man
     As they come and go!

O love, it was so long ago!
So long, so long that we were young,
And in the cloisters of our hearts
Hope all her joy-bells rung!
So long, so long that since that hour
Full half a lifetime hath gone by—
How ran the days ere first we met,
Belovéd, thou and I?

We had our dreams, no doubt. The dawn
Must still presage the rising sun,
And rose and crimson flush the east
Ere day is well begun.
We had our dreams—fair, shadowy wraiths
That fled when Day's full splendor kissed
Our souls' high places, and its winds
Swept the vales clear of mist!

    So long, so short,
     So swift, so slow,
    Are the years of man
     As they come and go!