O! happy days of childhood!
Ye have left me all too soon,
When I wandered in the wildwood,
And sang sweet “Bonnie Doon.”
When merry voices ringing,
In the tones of childish glee,
Told that no sad cares were clinging
To my young friends or me.
Oft in the woodland hiding,
How we ran from tree to tree,
Or on young pine saplings riding,
We laughed in ecstasy!
Or in the waters wading,
On the smooth and sea-girt shore,
While the western sun was fading,
We frolick’d more and more.
O! happy days of childhood!
Ye will never more return;
For the waters and the wildwood,
In vain, in vain I yearn.
CHARLESTON, February 26, 1841.