 | A New Year's Eve, and Other Poems |  |
29
A WINTER THOUGHT.
Dear friend! long tried and faithful proved
In hours of grief and gloom;
In such more justly prized and loved,
Than in joy's brightest bloom;—
In hours of grief and gloom;
In such more justly prized and loved,
Than in joy's brightest bloom;—
Well may that cheerless winter sky,
That one bright star above,
Recall thy worth and constancy
To gratitude and love.
That one bright star above,
Recall thy worth and constancy
To gratitude and love.
30
The steersman, in a summer night,
When cloudless are the skies,
May gaze upon their orbs of light,
Till slumber seal his eyes;
When cloudless are the skies,
May gaze upon their orbs of light,
Till slumber seal his eyes;
But when the winds are loud and stern,
And Heaven is drear and dark,
To one alone his glance will turn,
By that he guides his bark!
And Heaven is drear and dark,
To one alone his glance will turn,
By that he guides his bark!
So clouds have veiled each star and sun,
Once wont my sky to cheer;
And thou art now the polar one,
By which my course I steer.
Once wont my sky to cheer;
And thou art now the polar one,
By which my course I steer.
The blossoms of life's spring-tide gay,
My path have long since fled,
My summer foliage passed away,
My autumn fruit been shed.
My path have long since fled,
My summer foliage passed away,
My autumn fruit been shed.
31
But thou in winter's storms art yet
Unchanged in faith to me;
And dear though hopeless seems the debt
I long have owed to thee.
Unchanged in faith to me;
And dear though hopeless seems the debt
I long have owed to thee.
| A New Year's Eve, and Other Poems | |