Classic Poem

I WANDERED last night to the mystical mountain
Where the Muses recline 'neath the evergreen trees;
And deeply I drank at the crystalline fountain,
While flowers of poesy perfumed the breeze.

And this was my object: To see if I could not
Imbibe or absorb of the gentlest of arts
Some aid to express—pray, tell me who would not?—
The thoughts that this evening lie deep in our hearts.

I deemed it my right and my privileged duty
To gather a garland of messages sweet;
A wreath of good wishes in blossoming beauty
As an earnest of friendship to place at thy feet.

Alas, for my dreams! With daybreak they vanished,
Leaving never a trace of their fragrance behind;
And I from Parnassus am evermore banished
With soul over-full, but with vacuous mind.

So, tremblingly, haltingly, timidly, weakly,
Yet voicing the feeling that governs us all;
Unworthily, doubtless, but humbly and meekly,
I pray for all blessings upon thee to fall.

I drink to the virtues that cause us to love thee,
I drink to the graces so purely thine own;
I drink to kind skies—may they long smile above thee—
And the tenderest twilight that ever was known!

A health to thy journey! God grant us to lead it,
And on it the favors of fortune compel!
A health to the morning—God grant us to speed it—
When the word shall be Welcome instead of Farewell!