Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The Worlds Best Poetry. Volume III. Sorrow and Consolation. 1904. | | II. Parting and Absence | The Old Familiar Faces | Charles Lamb (17751834) |
| I HAVE had playmates, I have had companions, | |
In my days of childhood, in my joyful school-days; | |
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces. | |
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I have been laughing, I have been carousing, | |
Drinking late, sitting late, with my bosom cronies; | 5 |
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces. | |
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I loved a Love once, fairest among women: | |
Closed are her doors on me, I must not see her, | |
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces. | |
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I have a friend, a kinder friend has no man: | 10 |
Like an ingrate, I left my friend abruptly; | |
Left him, to muse on the old familiar faces. | |
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Ghost-like I paced round the haunts of my childhood, | |
Earth seemed a desert I was bound to traverse, | |
Seeking to find the old familiar faces. | 15 |
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Friend of my bosom, thou more than a brother, | |
Why wert not thou born in my fathers dwelling? | |
So might we talk of the old familiar faces. | |
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How some they have died, and some they have left me, | |
And some are taken from me; all are departed; | 20 |
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces. | | | |
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