DARK to the soul, and desolate,
     Life's sunniest hours would be,
And cheerless, fortune's best estate,
     Fair Friendship! but for thee.
And oh! when tempests wrap the skies,
     How comfortless, their gloom,
Did not thy radiant visions rise,
     Our darkness to illume!

Friend of my heart! in hours of joy,
     I've listened to thy voice;
And felt, in each inspiring tone,
     New motive, to rejoice
And oft, with anxious cares oppressed,
     And griefs, thou didst not know,
Thy kindness has relieved my breast,
     And lightened every woe.

Oh! I have loved, with thee to rove,
     In Spring's reviving hour,
Ere verdure yet, had clad the grove,
     Or fragrance filled the flower;
And joyed, when Summer found us laid,
     Beneath some aged oak,
Where, save the streamlet's bubbling tale,
     No sound, the stillness broke.

With thee, when Autumn's mellowing hand
     Has tinged the woods with gold,
How dear, to mark each varied tint
     Successively unfold!
And e'en in Winter's sullen hour,
     To roam, delighted, on,
And feel, that not in Summer bower,
     Is nature wooed, alone.

Those happy hours, those happy hours,
     Have flitted on the wind;
But many a dear remembrance lives,
     Deep in my heart, entwined;
And oft, the chords with which they're bound,
     Shall fancy wake again;
And memory love to linger long,
     Delighted, on that strain.

* The venerable Rector of Trinity Church, New York.

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