Shells of Ocean.

Shells of Ocean.
256.6

One summer eve, with pensive thoughts,
I wandered on the sea-best shore,
Where oft in heedless infant sport
I gathered shells in days before.
The splashing waves like music fell
Responsive to my fancy wild:
A dream came o’er me like a spell- I thought I was again a child.
I stooped upon the pebbly strand
To cull the toys that al round me lay,
But as I took them in my hand
I threw them one by one away.
And thus, I said, in after years
By toys our fancy is beguiled:
We gather shells from youth to age
And then we leave them like a child.