Henry Van Dyke (Генри Ван Дайк)

A Rondeau of College Rhymes


Our college rhymes,--how light they seem,
Like little ghosts of love’s young dream
That led our boyish hearts away
From lectures and from books, to stray
By flowery mead and flowing stream!

There’s nothing here, in form or theme,
Of thought sublime or art supreme:
We would not have the critic weigh
Our college rhymes.

Yet if, perchance, a slender beam
Of feeling’s glow or fancy’s gleam
Still lingers in the lines we lay
At Alma Mater’s feet today,
The touch of Nature may redeem
Our college rhymes.

Henry Van Dyke’s other poems:

  1. The Statue of Sherman by St. Gaudens
  2. The Wind of Sorrow
  3. Spring in the South
  4. Francis Makemie
  5. Patria




To the dedicated English version of this website