OFT, in the stilly night,   Ere slumber's chain has bound me, Fond Memory brings the light   Of other days around me:     The smiles, the tears     Of boyhood's years,   The words of love then spoken;     The eyes that shone,     Now dimm'd and gone,   The cheerful hearts now broken! Thus, in the stilly night,   Ere slumber's chain has bound me, Sad Memory brings the light   Of other days around me.

When I remember all   The friends, so link'd together, I've seen around me fall   Like leaves in wintry weather,     I feel like one     Who treads alone   Some banquet-hall deserted,     Whose lights are fled,     Whose garlands dead,   And all but he departed! Thus, in the stilly night,   Ere slumber's chain has bound me. Sad Memory brings the light   Of other days around me.