 | Lines in Pleasant Places |  |
159
A RESPONSE.
[_]
[On the occasion of a Surprise Visit of old Lodge associates to the Author, one of the number addressed to him some rhymes, to which the response.]
Dear Brother Jim: your pleasant rhyming
Set all my memory's bells to chiming,
With that occasion deftly timing,
And all the past
Flashed up before me like a priming
In retrocast.
Set all my memory's bells to chiming,
With that occasion deftly timing,
And all the past
Flashed up before me like a priming
In retrocast.
Again the rush of old-time feeling
Came o'er me, 'neath thy rhymes unreeling,
And forms, long hid by time's concealing,
Passed in review,
Unto my inner sense revealing,
As good as new.
Came o'er me, 'neath thy rhymes unreeling,
And forms, long hid by time's concealing,
Passed in review,
Unto my inner sense revealing,
As good as new.
Came back again the warm emotion,
The offspring of my young devotion,
When youth, then like a smiling ocean,
Lay bathed in light,
And you and I drank life's blest potion,
In care's despite.
The offspring of my young devotion,
When youth, then like a smiling ocean,
Lay bathed in light,
And you and I drank life's blest potion,
In care's despite.
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Came back the glow of love fraternal,
That then illumed our path diurnal,
Filling our souls with bliss supernal,
And round us fell,
The while we plucked the richest kernel
From life's rough shell.
That then illumed our path diurnal,
Filling our souls with bliss supernal,
And round us fell,
The while we plucked the richest kernel
From life's rough shell.
Then Siloam's silver stream, o'erflowing,
Ran sparkling in the sunshine glowing,
And our young hearts, its virtue knowing,
Drank in its tide,
A vein of early wisdom showing,
Now viewed with pride.
Ran sparkling in the sunshine glowing,
And our young hearts, its virtue knowing,
Drank in its tide,
A vein of early wisdom showing,
Now viewed with pride.
It tempered youth's impetuous fever,
It prompted us to good endeavor,
And bade us low pursuits to sever
That end in shame;
To walk in virtue's ways forever,
Exempt from blame.
It prompted us to good endeavor,
And bade us low pursuits to sever
That end in shame;
To walk in virtue's ways forever,
Exempt from blame.
It taught us Charity's high mission,
Controlled by scrupulous prevision;
Led on the mind to just decision
And generous scope,
And gave the humblest in condition
The loftiest hope.
Controlled by scrupulous prevision;
Led on the mind to just decision
And generous scope,
And gave the humblest in condition
The loftiest hope.
Ah, many years have slipped as fleetly,
Since those old days remembered meetly,
And as your jingle met me sweetly,
The Muse took sway,
And I, a captive made completely,
Was borne away.
Since those old days remembered meetly,
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The Muse took sway,
And I, a captive made completely,
Was borne away.
How many of the kindly hearted,
Who with us in the journey started,
Have on the longer voyage departed,
And left our side!
How many, ballasted and charted,
Sank 'neath the tide!
Who with us in the journey started,
Have on the longer voyage departed,
And left our side!
How many, ballasted and charted,
Sank 'neath the tide!
[OMITTED]
The locks are gray that then were shining,
And wrinkles on the features joining,
And gout and spectacles combining,
The crowd among;
But, ah! the heart's warm tendrils twining,
Are always young.
And wrinkles on the features joining,
And gout and spectacles combining,
The crowd among;
But, ah! the heart's warm tendrils twining,
Are always young.
Dear Jim, 'tis no more summer weather
With any of us, but together
We'll move with hearts of lightest feather,
As erst in youth;
Our Friendship bound with closest tether
In Love and Truth.
With any of us, but together
We'll move with hearts of lightest feather,
As erst in youth;
Our Friendship bound with closest tether
In Love and Truth.
| Lines in Pleasant Places | |