Three Years Ago by George Essex Evans

Not many years have passed away
   Since last I saw that gentle face;
         Not many years!
To those whose hearts are light and gay
   The time of such a little space
        Swift disappears.
But those few years have been to me
A weary blank eternity.

Three years ago! I knew you then,
   You were the fairest of the fair
         Three years ago!
Your beauty stirred the hearts of men;
   They said none could with your's compare.
         I loved you so,
I felt with pride my bosom swell
To hear her praised I loved so well.

Where beauties grew like comely flowers,
   Your stately grace outshone them all,
         Like some sweet rose
Which from the sheltering leafy bowers
   Has climbed the garden wall,
         And lovelier grows;
Blooms Queen amongst the roses there,
Sweet like her sisters, but more fair.

You thought it was a boyish dream
   That future years would drive away;
         Three years have past.
That years like centuries can seem,
   That weeks seem years, an hour a day,
         I know at last;
But still my "boyish dream" remains,
And in my heart thine image reigns.

"Come what come may!" I know that now
   For ever thou art lost to me,
         In three short years.
To Fate's relentless law I bow.
   And wish all happiness to thee,
         Till death appears
With lightning stride or footstep slow;
I love you as "Three Years Ago."

First published in The Queenslander, 12 July 1884

Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian Poetry Library

See also.