The Old Familiar Faces by Charles Lamb

Posted on by Lawrence G. Taylor

I have had playmates, I have had companions, 
In my days of childhood, in my joyful school-days, 
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.
I have been laughing, I have been carousing, 
Drinking late, sitting late, with my bosom cronies,
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.
I loved a Love once, fairest among women: 
Closed are her doors on me, I must not see her -
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.
I have a friend, a kinder friend has no man; 
Like an ingrate, I left my friend abruptly; 
Left him, to muse on the old familiar faces.
Ghost-like I paced round the haunts of my childhood, 
Earth seem’d a desert I was bound to traverse, 
Seeking to find the old familiar faces.
Friend of my bosom, thou more than a brother, 
Why wert not thou born in my father’s dwelling? 
So might we talk of the old familiar faces –
How some they have died, and some they have left me,
And some are taken from me; all are departed -
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.