RUGBY CHAPEL

NOVEMBER 1857
OLDLY, sadly descends

autumn evening. The field
Strewn with its dank yellow drifts
Of withered leaves, and the elms,
Fade into dimness apace, 5
Silent ; — hardly a shout
From a few boys late at their play !
The lights come out in the street,
In the school-room windows; — but cold,
Solemn, unlighted, austere, 10
Through the gathering darkness, arise
The Chapel-walls, in whose bound
Thou, my father ! art laid,
There thou dost lie, in the gloom
Of the autumn evening. But ah ! t-
That word, gloom, to my mind
Brings thee back, in the light
Of thy radiant vigour, again;
In the gloom of November we passed
Days not of gloom at thy side: 20
Seasons impaired not the ray
Of thy buoyant cheerfulness clear.
Such thou wast ! and I stand
In the autumn evening, and think
Of bygone autumns with thee. 25
Fifteen years have gone round
Since thou arosest to tread,
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