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226

ON THE DEATH OF A FRIEND.

I

Mary! I have no tears to give;
And what if such could flow from me,
Fast might they flow for some who live,
And not for those who die like thee.

II

Yet long-past days, together spent,
Endear'd by pleasures, priz'd, how much!
Demand this humble monument
To thee, who partly mad'st them such.

III

We met; thyself in youth's fair bloom,
And I in blighted manhood: thou,
With scarce a thought allied to gloom,—
Myself with much to cloud my brow.
227

IV

And this I owe thee for the gleams
Of joy, then scatter'd o'er my way;
Which like the rainbow's lustrous beams,
Look'd bright in Sorrow's stormiest day.

V

Years have rolled by:—and now I hear,
With all the past reviv'd anew,
That thou, whose friendship thus could cheer,
Hast pass'd Death's shadowy valley through.

VI

I shed no tears for thee:—for tears,
If I could give thee such, were vain;
But years may pass,—ay! many years,—
Ere I shall meet thy like again.

VII

And thoughts, which find imperfect vent
In words, while I the past recal,
Raise thee this simple monument,
Our Friendship's last memorial!
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