Dear cherished hours, how much ye tell + 

Of all we’ve known, and loved so well! + 

On memory’s page there is a leaf, + 

Bearing a trace of pleasures brief; + 

Of schoolday mirth, of pastime gay, + 

With which we whiled those hours away. + 

And those we loved in early youth, + 

With all the fervency of truth⁠— + 

They seem to live, and pass us by, + 

With laughing lip and beaming eye. + 

Each favorite spot, each winding stream, + 

Where we have watched the bright sunbeam, + 

Appears at memory’s magic spell⁠— + 

And joys, to which we bid farewell. + 

When grief and bliss are in the train + 

Of hours we ne’er shall live again; + 

When sorrow clouds our after years, + 

And fills our cup with bitter tears; + 

’Tis then we wait a sigh to ye + 

O by-gone days of memory. + 