University of Virginia Library

LETTER TO LORD BROUGHTON

Old friend, whose rhymes so kindly mix
Thoughts grave and gay with seventy-six,
I hope it may to you be given
To do the same at seventy-seven;
Whence your still living friends may date
A new good wish for seventy-eight;
And thence again extend the line,
Until it passes seventy-nine;
And yet again, and yet again,
While health and cheerfulness remain.
Long be they yours, for, blest with these,
Life's latest years have power to please,
And round them spread the genial glow
Which sunset casts on Alpine snow.