Oft in the Stilly Night - Eleanor McEvoy

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 dimmed 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 garland’s 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