The Golden Age + 

Long ago the world was finer⁠— + 

Why it failed I do not know: + 

All the virtues were diviner; + 

Robber, miser, and maligner + 

Had not been created. No, + 

Truth and honor flourished, though. + 

Long ago. + 

Sages in procession stalking + 

Moved majestic to and fro, + 

And each lowly mortal walking + 

In their shadow stilled his talking, + 

Heeding the sonorous flow + 

Of their wisdom, loud or low, + 

Long ago. + 

Angel Woman, younger, fairer + 

Far than she that now we know, + 

Gave men meeting with a rarer + 

Grace. No graybeard cried, “Beware her + 

Tongue and temper!” She was slow + 

To wrath. I tell you that was so, + 

Long ago. + 

Ah, the miracle of morning. + 

Setting all the world aglow + 

Like a smile of light adorning + 

God’s own face, held no forewarning + 

Of the tempest that would blow⁠— + 

Sign and prophecy of woe, + 

Long ago. + 

Hope from every hilltop beckoned + 

To the happy throngs below; + 

And they confidently reckoned + 

On a hero every second. + 

Best of all that goodly show, + 

I was but a laddie⁠—O, + 

So long ago! + 