--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I watched them from the window, thy…" description: "\"I watched them from the window, thy children at their play, And I thought of all my own dear friends, who were far, oh, far away, And childish loves, a..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fa/arthur-hugh-clough-12026_back-again_i-watched-them-from-the-window-thy-child_151057.jpg" --- # I watched them from the window, thy children at their… ![“I watched them from the window, thy children at their play, And I thought of all my own dear friends, who were far, oh, far away, And childish loves, and childish cares, and a child's own buoyant gladness Came gushing back again to me with a soft and solemn sadness; And feelings frozen up full…” quote by Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fa/arthur-hugh-clough-12026_back-again_i-watched-them-from-the-window-thy-child_151057.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fa/arthur-hugh-clough-12026_back-again_i-watched-them-from-the-window-thy-child_151057.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fa/arthur-hugh-clough-12026_back-again_i-watched-them-from-the-window-thy-child_151057.jpg) > “I watched them from the window, thy children at their play, And I thought of all my own dear friends, who were far, oh, far away, And childish loves, and childish cares, and a child's own buoyant gladness Came gushing back again to me with a soft and solemn sadness; And feelings frozen up full long, and thoughts of long ago, Seemed to be thawing at my heart with a warm and sudden flow.” [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Memories of distant loved ones can evoke bittersweet nostalgia and renewed warmth. **In simple terms:** Remembering distant friends brings mixed feelings. Key Takeaway Cherish memories while staying present. Themes memory nostalgia longing emotion Mood melancholic warm Type reflective poetic When to use this quote - family reunions - old friendships - personal reflection Key Concepts Psychology of reminiscence emotional processing human connection Questions to Reflect On - What does this memory teach you now? - How can you balance past and present? A Different Perspective Nostalgia may hinder present focus. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Care](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/care/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Dear friend](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dear-friend/) [Dear friends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dear-friends/) [Feelings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feelings/) [Flow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flow/) [Gladness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gladness/) [Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart/) [Long ago](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-ago/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Play](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/play/) [Sadness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sadness/) [Solemn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/solemn/) [Thawing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thawing/) [Thoughts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thoughts/) ## Related quotes > [“A solemn sadness reigns. A great peace is around us. In its light our cares of the working day grow small and trivial, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerome-k-jerome/a-solemn-sadness-reigns-a-great-peace-is-around-us-in-its-light-our/) [Jerome K. Jerome](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerome-k-jerome/) > [Come back again, old heart! Ah me! Methinks in those thy coward fears There might, perchance, a courage be, That fails in these the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/come-back-again-old-heart-ah-me-methinks-in-those-thy-coward-fears/) [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) > [“I am thawing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-halse-anderson/i-am-thawing/) [Laurie Halse Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurie-halse-anderson/) > [What is man but a mass of thawing clay?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/what-is-man-but-a-mass-of-thawing-clay/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“Never thaw chickens or turkey on a counter nor overnight on a counter. 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It’s on the kitchen counter thawing out at this very moment.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/i-ve-got-an-up-to-the-minute-block-of-60-seconds-it-s-on-the-kitchen/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) > [Now that Mr. Trump is the President-elect: If he chooses, he can, by executive order, repeal most of what President Barack Obama brought into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-farrakhan/now-that-mr-trump-is-the-president-elect-if-he-chooses-he-can-by/) [Louis Farrakhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-farrakhan/) > [Before the end of December, generally, they experience their first thawing. Those which a month ago were sour, crabbed, and quite unpalatable to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/before-the-end-of-december-generally-they-experience-their-first/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [They were pleasant spring days, in which the winter of man's discontent was thawing as well as the earth, and the life that had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/they-were-pleasant-spring-days-in-which-the-winter-of-man-s/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [Red like blood White like bone Red like solitude White like silence Red like the beastly instinct White like a god's heart Red like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tite-kubo/red-like-blood-white-like-bone-red-like-solitude-white-like-silence/) [Tite Kubo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tite-kubo/) ## More by Arthur Hugh Clough > [Rome, believe me, my friend, is like its own Monte Testaceo, Merelya marvellous mass of broken and castaway wine-pots.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/rome-believe-me-my-friend-is-like-its-own-monte-testaceo-merelya/) [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) > [Old things need not be therefore true, O brother men, nor yet the new; Ah! still awhile the old thought retain, And yet consider…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/old-things-need-not-be-therefore-true-o-brother-men-nor-yet-the-new/) [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) > [Do not adultery commit; Advantage rarely comes of it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/do-not-adultery-commit-advantage-rarely-comes-of-it/) [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) > [I sit at my table en grand seigneur , And when I have done, throw a crust to the poor; Not only the pleasure,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/i-sit-at-my-table-en-grand-seigneur-and-when-i-have-done-throw-a/) [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) > [Thou shalt not covet; but tradition approves all forms of competition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/thou-shalt-not-covet-but-tradition-approves-all-forms-of-competition/) [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) > [Whither depart the souls of the brave that die in the battle, Die in the lost, lost fight, for the cause that perishes with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/whither-depart-the-souls-of-the-brave-that-die-in-the-battle-die-in/) [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) > [How pleasant it is to have money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/how-pleasant-it-is-to-have-money/) [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) > [Say not the struggle nought availeth, The labour and the wounds are vain, The enemy faints not, nor faileth, And as things have been,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/say-not-the-struggle-nought-availeth-the-labour-and-the-wounds-are/) [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) > [Thou shalt not steal; an empty feat, When its so lucrative to cheat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/thou-shalt-not-steal-an-empty-feat-when-its-so-lucrative-to-cheat/) [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) > [Come back again, old heart! Ah me! Methinks in those thy coward fears There might, perchance, a courage be, That fails in these the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/come-back-again-old-heart-ah-me-methinks-in-those-thy-coward-fears/) [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) > [And almost everyone when age, disease, or sorrows strike him, inclines to think there is a God, or something very like him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/and-almost-everyone-when-age-disease-or-sorrows-strike-him-inclines/) [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) > [For while the tired waves, vainly breaking, Seem here no painful inch to gain, Far back, through creeks and inlets making, Comes silent, flooding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/for-while-the-tired-waves-vainly-breaking-seem-here-no-painful-inch/) [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) > [Thou shalt have one God only: who Would be at the expense of two?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/thou-shalt-have-one-god-only-who-would-be-at-the-expense-of-two/) [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) > [Action will furnish belief,-but will that belief be the true one? This is the point, you know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/action-will-furnish-belief-but-will-that-belief-be-the-true-one-this/) [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) > [The highest political buzz word is not liberty, equality, fraternity or solidarity; it is service.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/the-highest-political-buzz-word-is-not-liberty-equality-fraternity-or/) [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) [Explore all 56 Arthur Hugh Clough quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) ## More Back again quotes > [Too long have the workers of the world waited for some Moses to lead them out of bondage. I would not lead you out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugene-v-debs/too-long-have-the-workers-of-the-world-waited-for-some-moses-to-lead/) [Eugene V. Debs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugene-v-debs/) > [Don´t be unnecessarily burdened by the past. Go on closing the chapters that you have read; there is no need to go back again…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/don-t-be-unnecessarily-burdened-by-the-past-go-on-closing-the/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [I was acquainted once with a gallant soldier who assured me that his only measure of courage was this: upon the first fire, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/i-was-acquainted-once-with-a-gallant-soldier-who-assured-me-that-his/) [Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/) > [You look out into the audience and you see so much joy on people's faces. You make eye contact with people who are almost…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christine-mcvie/you-look-out-into-the-audience-and-you-see-so-much-joy-on-people-s/) [Christine McVie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christine-mcvie/) > [Sometimes people hurt us unintentionally. We may view that they've hurt us intentionally and want revenge. But sometimes when we really look back again,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cindy-wright/sometimes-people-hurt-us-unintentionally-we-may-view-that-they-ve/) [Cindy Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cindy-wright/) > [If we with earnest effort could succeed To make our life one long, connected prayer, As lives of some, perhaps, have been and are;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-chenevix-trench/if-we-with-earnest-effort-could-succeed-to-make-our-life-one-long/) [Richard Chenevix Trench](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-chenevix-trench/) > [In a sermon entitled “God's Providence,” C. H. Spurgeon said, “Napoleon once heard it said, that man proposes and God disposes. 'Ah,' said Napoleon,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-bridges/in-a-sermon-entitled-god-s-providence-c-h-spurgeon-said-napoleon-once/) [Jerry Bridges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-bridges/) > [You can take my factories, burn up my buildings, but give me my people and I'll build the business right back again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ford/you-can-take-my-factories-burn-up-my-buildings-but-give-me-my-people/) [Henry Ford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ford/) > [How long were the stretches of toilsome tacking back and forth, of being blocked, of being thrown back again and again. But all that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathe-kollwitz/how-long-were-the-stretches-of-toilsome-tacking-back-and-forth-of/) [Kathe Kollwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathe-kollwitz/) > [ \[My advice\] will one day be found With other relics of 'a former world,' When this world shall be former, underground, Thrown topsy-turvy, twisted,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-byron/my-advice-will-one-day-be-found-with-other-relics-of-a-former-world/) [Lord Byron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-byron/) > [I laugh, that there's a certain kind of cyclical nature to life and that I don't have to worry because whatever isn't there right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-mosley/i-laugh-that-there-s-a-certain-kind-of-cyclical-nature-to-life-and/) [Walter Mosley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-mosley/) > [Home, I learned, can be anywhere you make it. Home is also the place to which you come back again and again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/home-i-learned-can-be-anywhere-you-make-it-home-is-also-the-place-to/) [Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/) > [To ask for power is forcing uphill a stone which after all rolls back again from the summit and seeks in headlong haste the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucretius/to-ask-for-power-is-forcing-uphill-a-stone-which-after-all-rolls-back/) [Lucretius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucretius/) > [It's undeserved success that people are so terribly afraid of losing; they know they haven't any way, themselves, of ever getting it back again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-deasy/it-s-undeserved-success-that-people-are-so-terribly-afraid-of-losing/) [Mary Deasy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-deasy/) > [Nostalgia is the aching realization that you can't go back again. The longing, no matter how intense, can never be met.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-c-sproul-jr/nostalgia-is-the-aching-realization-that-you-can-t-go-back-again-the/) [R. C. Sproul, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-c-sproul-jr/) Browse all 160 Back again quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I watched them from the window, thy children at their play, And I thought of all my own dear friends, who were far, oh, far away, And childish loves, and childish cares, and a child's own buoyant gladness Came gushing back again to me with a soft and solemn sadness; And feelings frozen up full long, and thoughts of long ago, Seemed to be thawing at my heart with a warm and sudden flow.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Arthur Hugh Clough" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/i-watched-them-from-the-window-thy-children-at-their-play-and-i/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Back again" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/i-watched-them-from-the-window-thy-children-at-their-play-and-i/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fa/arthur-hugh-clough-12026_back-again_i-watched-them-from-the-window-thy-child_151057.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fa/arthur-hugh-clough-12026_back-again_i-watched-them-from-the-window-thy-child_151057.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fa/arthur-hugh-clough-12026_back-again_i-watched-them-from-the-window-thy-child_151057.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I watched them from the window, thy children at their play, And I thought of all my own dear friends, who…” — Arthur Hugh Clough", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Arthur Hugh Clough", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I watched them from the window,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/i-watched-them-from-the-window-thy-children-at-their-play-and-i/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/i-watched-them-from-the-window-thy-children-at-their-play-and-i/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```