To Mrs. J. !Groshon Herriot.
"Years Ago" (1858)
Ballad
Written by
Sutton Elliott Esq.
Composed by
John Rogers Thomas, 1830-1896

New York: William Hall & Son, 543 Broadway
(between Spring and Prince Sts.)
Boston: Russell & Tolman
New Orleans: P. P. Werlein
Louisville: D. P. Faulds & Co.
Plate No. 4468
Engraved by Clayton.
[Source: @NYPL]

1. Haste! let us seek the cottage door, 
The home of boyhood’s day: 
The willow bank, the gentle lawn, 
Where rippling streamlets play; 
Or shall we seek the grey church yard, 
To linger midst the dead, 
And there recall those happy hours 
That now alas! are fled 
Years ago, years ago, years  ago! 

2. Or go we to the ruined tow’r,
Where creeping ivy climbs,
And clings around the aged wall:
A type of other times;
We there shall hear the village bell,
Telling of joy or woe,
Of hope to come or learn to fall.
It tell’d them years ago—
Years ago, years ago, years ago.