University of Virginia Library

There's treasure in thine offering. Every page
Is rich with pearls, as brilliant and as pure,
As Genius ever gather'd from the deeps
Of the unbounded ocean-flood of mind,
And set in priceless clusters, to enrich
The cabinets of those who gather gems
That shall shed lustre to eternity.

And yet one little word, in pencil trac'd
Upon a snowy margin, is to me
Most precious of its treasures. It is like
A sweet pale rose, twin'd in a diamond wreath.
I place the bright cold jewels on my brow
To hold their high communion with my brain;
But I will hide the blossom near my heart,
That its soft touch, and breath of precious balm
May minister kind soothings, for my heart,
Is sometimes lone, and very sorrowful,
And then it yearns for that kind sympathy
Which Friendship only can administer.
But I have learn'd that Friendship is a flower
So pure, so priceless, so allied to heaven,
That it is seldom found in this poor world
Of earth, and fire, and ashes. If it spring
And promise fair awhile, the mildew blight
Of death comes cold upon it, or the pang
Of parting wrings the tender stem in twain;
Or interest taints it with a baleful blight;
Or the blind earth-worm of distrust creeps in
And gnaws away its root; or envy strikes
Her poison fang into its very heart;
Or black detraction eats away the buds,
And leaves the rifled tree a crown of thorns;
Or this impure and changing atmosphere
Causes the fair exotic to put forth
The rank wild flowers of passion, which breathe out
A venom'd burning odour, which is death
To the intoxicated spell-bound soul
That wears it in the bosom.
Yet I know
That this thine offering is pure, for earth
Has never touch'd it. Eye, nor voice, nor hand
Of weak mortality has soil'd the plant.
It sprang and budded in the spirit land,
All fair, and sweet, and holy. May it bloom
All my life long, to cheer my weary way
With holy fragrance of its sympathy,
And when my heart shall cease to feel its balm,
Then may its blossoms shed-their holy dew
Upon my humble grave. And when we meet
Where there is no more death, may the choice flower,
Transplanted also to its native soil,
Burst into heavenly never-fading bloom;
And unknown Friends, meet, mingle, and rejoice,
In presence of the Ever Living Source
Of happiness, and immortality.