Stripped Lilacs

I dinna believe I would have recalled
When the lilacs had browned,
For their purple plumes had nodded
Blithesomely upon the sunlit airs.
I dinna believe I would have recalled them so.
But the sun had stood high,
And the little fleece-clouds had played
At skipping o'er the gold-sprayed sky;
And the birds had skimmed the heights
Calling their music shrill, high upon
The vasty ways, and the brook
Was chattering beside, telling,
Telling of the mountain's gab.
And I was youthed, and stepped the pathways
Joy-sped, listening to the bird's songs,
Knowing the nodding of the lilac plumes,
Taking in their perfume, plucking them
To deck my love which pulsed in youthfulness.
Ah me, but that day hath gone,
And the skies are grey, and the clouds
Have wearied, sinking low to rest
Upon the earth's rim. And I-Ah,
I too am weary. No longer
Doth Youth send her wine for my supping-
And the lilacs are bare, bare, but their spears
Stand brown against a silver sky,
Like old script writ of some older day!
Oh, I dinna believe that I
Would have recalled the lilacs so!