Thomas Dunn English

“ The cabin to ruin has gone, Ben Bolt,
The tree you would seek in vain;
And where once the lords of the forests waved,
Grows grass and the golden grain.
And don't you remember the school, Ben Bolt,
With the master so cruel and grim,
And the shadow nook in the running brook,
Where the children went to swim?
Grass grows on the master's grave, Ben Bolt,
The spring of the brook is dry,
And of all the boys who were schoolmates then,
There are only you and I.
There is a change in the things I loved, Ben Bolt,
They have changed from the old to the new ”

“ Don't you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt?
Sweet Alice whose hair was so brown,
Who wept with delight when you gave her a smile
And trembled with fear at your frown? ”