A Voice of gentle singing
    Went by upon the wind,
And an echo sweet is ringing—
    The thought it left behind.

'Twas a song of other feelings
    That belonged to other days,
Ere I marked the stern revealings
    Of the curtain time must raise.

When my heart and step were lighter
    Than they'll ever be again,
And the dream of hope was brighter—
    For I believed it then.

That sweet song was of gladness,
    Yet it has left with me
A shadow one-half sadness,
    One-half dear memory.

Though the darkness of November
    Around my heart be thrown,
Yet how pleasant to remember
    The spring hours once its own!