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TO A FRIEND, ON RECEIVING A PAIR OF SPECTACLES.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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TO A FRIEND, ON RECEIVING A PAIR OF SPECTACLES.

By various stress of time and weather,
For half a century together,
Some joy-drops and deep show'rs of weeping,
Spite of the balmy dew of sleeping,
My Eyes were all the worse for wear,
And were in search of some repair:
When you, my Friend, in lucky hour,
Bestow'd the sight-relieving power;
A boon as useful as 'tis kind—
Yet had no Eye but of the mind
Had I been deaf, and blind, and dumb,
For half a century to come,
That Eye, in vision bright and clear,
Would view your worth, and hold it dear.

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But now, assisted by your gift,
Which gives the Optic Nerves a lift—
I see to tell you, till they sever,
Or close in death—I'm yours for ever!