WHAT wish can friendship form for thee, What brighter star invoke to shine? Thy path from every thorn is free, And every rose is thine! Life hath no purer joy in store, Time hath no sorrow to efface; Hope cannot paint one blessing more Than memory can retrace! Some hearts a boding fear might own, Had Fate to them thy portion given, Since many an eye by tears alone Is taught to gaze on Heaven! And there are virtues oft concealed, Till roused by anguish from repose, As odorous trees no balm will yield Till from their wounds it flows. But fear not thou the lesson fraught With Sorrow's chastening power to know; Thou needest not thus be sternly taught, "To melt at others' woe." Then still, with heart as blest, as warm, Rejoice thou in thy lot on earth: Ah! why should virtue dread the storm, If sunbeams prove her worth? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SAND-MAN by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE STORMING OF STONY POINT [JULY 16, 1779] by ARTHUR GUITERMAN IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 54 by ALFRED TENNYSON WHEN HE EMERGED by MARGARET AHO TWO OF A KIND by WALTER TALLMADGE ARNDT |