Explore "A Backward Look" by James Whitcomb Riley on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
As I sat smoking, alone, yesterday, / And lazily leaning back in my chair, / Enjoying myself in a general way -- / Allowing my thoughts a holiday / From weariness, toil and care, -- / My fancies -- doubtless, for ventilation -- / Left ajar the gates of my mind, -- / And Memory, seeing the situation, / Slipped out in the street of "Auld Lang Syne. " --
Wandering ever with tireless feet / Through scenes of silence, and jubilee / Of long-hushed voices; and faces sweet / Were thronging the shadowy side of the street / As far as the eye could see; / Dreaming again, in anticipation, / The same old dreams of our boyhood's days / That never come true, from the vague sensation / Of walking asleep in the world's strange ways.