Classic Poem

Our friendship 's not a stream to dry,
Or stop with angry jar;
A life-long planet in our sky—
No meteor-shooting star.

Thy playfulness and pleasant ways
Shall cheer my wintry track,
And give my old declining days
A second summer back!

Proud honesty protects our lot,
No dun infests our bowers:
Wealth's golden lamps illumine not
Brows more content than ours.

To think, too, thy remembrance fond
May love me after death,
Gives fancied happiness beyond
My lease of living breath.

Meanwhile thine intellects presage
A lifetime rich in truth,
And make me feel the advance of age
Retarded by thy youth!

Good-night! propitious dreams betide
Thy sleep!—awaken gay,
And we will make to-morrow glide
As cheerful as to-day!