C Lamb read by Classic Poetry Aloud:

http://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/

Giving voice to the poetry of the past.

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The Old Familiar Faces

by Charles Lamb (1775–1834)

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.

First aired: 4 December 2007

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Reading © Classic Poetry Aloud 2007