Paying Calls
Gerald Finzi, Thomas Hardy
I went by footpath and by stile
Beyond where bustle ends
Strayed here a mile and there a mile
And called upon some friends
On certain ones I had not seen
For years past did I call
And then on others who had been
The oldest friends of all
It was the time of midsummer
When they had used to roam;
But now, though tempting was the air
I found them all at home
I spoke to one and other of them
By mound and stone and tree
Of things we had done ere days were dim
But they spoke not to me