"I Vex Me Not with Brooding on the Years"

I vex me not with brooding on the years
      That were ere I drew breath: why should I then
      Distrust the darkness that may fall again
      When life is done? Perchance in other spheres--
Dead planets--I once tasted mortal tears,
      And walked as now among a throng of men,
      Pondering things that lay beyond my ken,
      Questioning death, and solacing my fears.
Ofttimes indeed strange sense have I of this,
      Vague memories that hold me with a spell,
      Touches of unseen lips upon my brow,
Breathing some incommunicable bliss!
      In years foregone, O Soul, was all not well?
      Still lovelier life awaits thee. Fear not thou!

• About Thomas Bailey Aldrich