Ode to Last Year

Ode to Last Year

A three page poem about happiness with another person.

Three handwritten pages

This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.

MHattersleyCR40699-160506-16

[underlined] Ode to Last Year [/underlined]
Last Year; the memory still undimmed,
Of days carefree and gay;
Of nights with the moon & stars & things.
When love & bliss held sway.

Last Year; that glorious [deleted] & forgetful [/deleted][inserted] unforgotten [/inserted] age.
Thru’ field and glade we strolled;
Together in youthful bandinage
Laughed, joked, with worlds ne’er cold.

Last Year; Aught for the world cared we;
Laughing and playing as lovers may
In careless joy and ecstasy
Which drove all worldly care away.
[page break]

Last Year we dreamed in joy untold,
Nor thought the dream would end like this;
But that love would e’er unfold,
New dreams of everlasting bliss.

Last Year; whose dream is unfulfilled,
Gives way to the fateful march of time,
For the mind of Youth can turn at will,
[inserted] So thou [/inserted] [deleted]And so you[/deleted] to [inserted] thine own [/inserted][deleted] your [/deleted] way ¬¬–[inserted]and[/inserted] I[indecipherable word] mine.

Last Year our life would meet in kiss divine
Our hearts united in heavenly embrace.
Until, O faithless one, thou broke this heart of mine,
Thy lips held tryst with another face.
[page break]

Last Year we parted; tore apart our tracks,
And may be pardoned if we shed a tear;
For ‘twas farewell – we turned our backs,
On love that bloomed, and thrived,
– Last Year