Now twenty years have passed away,
Since I here bid farewell
To woods, and fields, and scenes of play
And school-mates loved so well.
Where many were, now few remain
Of old familiar things!
But seeing these to mind again
The lost and absent brings.
The friends I left that parting day How changed, as time has sped!
Young childhood grown, strong manhood gray,
And half of all are dead.