Backward Turn, Oh! Recollection.

Backward turn, oh! recollection!     Far, far back to childhoods' days;     To those treasures of affection,     'Round which loving memory plays     Show to me the loving faces     Of my parents, now no more, -     Fill again the vacant places     With the images of yore.     Conjure up the home where comfort     Seemed to make its cosy nest;     Where the stranger's only passport,     Was the need of food and rest.     Show the schoolhouse where with others,     I engaged in mental strife,     And the playground, where as brothers     Running, jumping, full of life.     Now I see the lovely maiden,     That my young heart captive led;     Like a sylph, with gold curls laden,     And her lips of cherry red.     Now fond voices seem to echo,     Tones as when I heard them last;     And my heart sighs sadly, Heigh, ho!     For the joys for ever past.     From the past back to the present,     Come, ye wandering thoughts again;     Memories however pleasant,     Will not rid to-day of pain,     Now we live, the past is buried, -     We are midway in life's stream;     Onward, onward! ever hurried, -     And the futures but a dream.