Madmoments: or First Verseattempts By a Bornnatural. Addressed to the Lightheaded of Society at Large, by Henry Ellison |
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 | Madmoments: or First Verseattempts |  |
TO A FRIEND.
Oh if in Happiness thy lot be cast,Then turn a thankful Eye unto the Past,
And ask whence it hath sprung: if other Heart
Did aught of worth unto thine own impart
By Commune and by Love, infusing thro'
One soul, the life, the force, and truth of two,
Like sunrays blent together: if there be
One whom the Past makes dear to memory,
Call up his soul that he thy bliss may share.
Tho' from thine Eyes he's pass'd, still is he here,
In the same Life with thee unfailingly!
Still thro' the mist of Years, the loving Eye
Dwells on the shapes of former Joys, still sees
The fresh Dew of young Hope, which as it lay
In your glad path, your feet would brush away
In lovetimed step together, in your sport
Of youthfull Fancies, or when holy thought,
Sprang, sweet as flowers, from the root of bliss
In its true Soil a selfcontented Heart.
If of those Days the memory depart,
Then thou must be an altered man indeed!
And the sweet dew falls not where thy steps tread.
But such thou canst not be— then keep the thought
Of those glad Days, within a Heart not wrought
To selfishness by Time; may Life renew
Unto thine Afterpath the blessed Dew
Of early promise, making all around
Thee fresh and joyous, as the gladsome sound
Of Mountainstreams, and when upon the Brink
Of a calm Grave thy foot is placed, then think
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As bound to one same Haven of sweet rest.
| Madmoments: or First Verseattempts | |