Page:Poems Kennedy.djvu/35

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THE LOST LAND
I HEARD them once—the blue birds' call,
The throstle's whistled tune,
And saw, a-down a winding lane,
Flecked with the sun or gemmed with rain,
The April's floral rune.

Would I could find it once again,
That lane with blossoms gay;
For me 'twould mark the backward trail
To that lost realm where shadows fail,
The land of Yesterday.

Each time the spring comes o'er the hills
I follow in her lead
And seek again that dear, lost land
Where Love and I walked hand in hand
And learned life's golden creed.

But down the barren, world-long leagues
That meet my aching gaze
No song bird calls or blossom peers—
The flotsam of the shriven years
Drifts with the vanished days.

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