I'd add to the above commentaries that the last line is extraordinarily whimsical and spot-on true:
These days the past is nearer, so I came
to our remembered refuge on the hill,
expecting change yet finding little there:
my village and the Moelwyns look the same,
Saint Michael’s Church commands the valley still—
but you, old friend, are younger than you were.
When the boy first "met" Lord N he'd thought him "old" (he died at age 43, according to the footnote), but when he returns the only thing that's changed is that 43 now looks young to the man-that-was-the-boy. Subtle, sweet...
(robt)
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