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202
LV. GREEN BANK.
Sept. 12, 1838.
I
Brother, brother! thou art gone, and I will not mourn thy going,Though thou hast been unto me like a river in its flowing;
For many a fresh and manly thought, and many a glorious dream,
Like fruits and flowers of foreign lands, have flourished by the stream.
Yet, brother, it is well to part: a sunset in the sky
Sinks deepest in the heart when it is fading from the eye!
II
The heart is never safe unless it trembles while it woos;Man cannot love a treasure that he does not fear to lose.
In touch and look and earnest tone, and many a little way
Thy spirit will be more with me when thou art far away:
For men may dwell by mountain streams, and all the summer round
Have music lingering in their ears till they forget the sound.
203
III
Though it be bitterness and pain to bid a friend good-bye,Yet love will catch the tear-drops as they hurry from the eye:
And friendship's rarest, holiest flowers spring up from loyal fears,
Frail blooms that give no scent unless we water them with tears:
And rich and happy is the heart wherein there always dwell,
Like household gods, the memories of many a kind farewell!
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