I came across the marsh to-night,
And though the wind was cold,
I stayed a moment on the bridge
To note the paly gold
That lingered on the darkening bay;
The creek which ran below
Was frozen dumb; the dreary flats
Were overspread with snow.
The college bell began to ring,
And as the north wind blew
Its distant janglings out to sea,
I thought, dear Friend, of you;
And how one warm September day,
While yet the woods were green,
We strayed across the happy hills
And this wide marsh between.
The hay-stacks dotted here and there
The water-meadows wide:
The even lines of sluices black
Were filling with the tide.
Then this salt stream, now winter bound,
Fled softly through the sedge,
Retreating from the sparkling Sound;
And there along its edge
We strolled, and marked the far-off sloops,
And watched the cattle graze.
O'erhead the swallows rushed in troops,
While bright with purple haze,
West Rock looked down the winding plain—
Ah! this was long ago;
The summer's gone, and you are gone,
As everything must go.