University of Virginia Library


67

THE TRUE COMPANION.

Give me the man, however old and staid,
Or worn with sorrow and perplexity,
Who, when he walks in sunshine or in shade,
By woodland bowers, or bare beach of the sea,
O'er hill-top, or in valleys green, with me,
Throws off his age and gambols like a child,
And finds a boyish pleasure in the wild,
Rejuvenescent on the flowery lea!
Him shall the year press lightly as he goes;
The kindly wisdom gather'd in the fields
Shall be his antidote to worldly woes;
And the o'erflowing joy that nature yields
To her true lovers shall his heart inclose,
And blunt the shafts of care like iron shields.