"City Walls Close in Behind Me...Where the Sunshine Used to Find Me" Or: A May Poem:

As the month of May is upon us, I thought it appropriate to post a poem by Victorian poet and writer, Sarah Doudney.

Sarah contributed many stories and poems to monthly journals, including, amongst others, Charles Dickens’ ‘All the Year Round’

This poem, a contribution to Leisure Hour, is entitled, ‘May Memories’

Swiftly wound the silver river

Where the grass grew deep,

Through the mystic shade and silence

That the woodlands keep;

Underneath the chestnuts straying,

(Trembling fans o’erhead,)

With the creamy blossoms playing,

How my bright hours sped!

As a dream when one awaketh

Seems to me that day,

Chestnut blossoms, sliding river,

Fairyland of May!

City walls close in behind me,

Summer joys are o’er;

Where the sunshine used to find me

I shall stay no more.

Other hands will pull the blossoms,

Cones of pink and white;

Mine are worn with daily labour,

Tired from morn till night;

Still I muse, but not in sadness,

On those bygone days;

Here my autumn hath its gladness

Worth a thousand Mays!