 | Italy and Other Poems |  |
311
FRIENDSHIP— DEDICATED TO ------.
I may not, tho' my spirit inly glows,Breathe out your name, nor to the lyre reveal
The deep sensations that my lips conceal:
On your mute virtues silence shall repose.
Yet will I dwell on that auspicious hour,
When first we met in youth's delightful day:
And trace, thro' changeful years, th' unyielding sway
Of Friendship, whose indissoluble pow'r
Mix'd tear with tear, and smile with smile allied.
The cup we pledg'd, if Joy the chalice held,
Was doubly sweet: if Woe, 'twas half repell'd
By Sympathy, that would the grief divide.
So have we liv'd: and many a sun-shine beam
Has rested on our path, amid the gloom
Of misery mingled with Man's earthly doom.
Peace! on our evening hang her rainbow gleam!
Ere come that icy Night which chills the heart:
Ere yet—no more to meet on earth—we part.
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