| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | II. After Revisiting Cambridge after a Long Absence | | By Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton (1809–1885) |
| | | I HAVE a debt of my heart’s own to thee, | |
| School of my soul, old lime and cloister shade, | |
| Which I, strange creditor, should grieve to see | |
| Fully acquitted and exactly paid. | |
| The first ripe taste of manhood’s best delights, | 5 |
| Knowledge imbibed, while mind and heart agree, | |
| In sweet belated talk on winter nights, | |
| With friends whom growing time keeps dear to me,— | |
| Such things I owe thee, and not only these: | |
| I owe thee the far beaconing memories | 10 |
| Of the young dead, who, having crossed the tide | |
| Of life where it was narrow, deep, and clear, | |
| Now cast their brightness from the further side | |
| On the dark-flowing hours I breast in fear. | | | | |
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