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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO A FRIEND by ERNEST HARTSOCK

First Line: GOLD NIGHTS ARE THESE I SPEND
Last Line: OF DREAMS: DEATH CANNOT ROB US MUCH. . . .
Subject(s): DEATH; DUTY; DEAD, THE;

Gold nights are these I spend
With talk to my full soul's desire
In winter with you, friend,
Before the whispering pine-log fire,

Drenched in the orange heat;
Such words are only uttered when
Youth's free heart flames more sweet
Than it can ever burn again. . . .

Such moments can be priced
But in the coin of Ecstasy --
With which Plato and Christ
Bought their souls ultimately free;

Dear Lad, it is enough
That we have lived and felt the touch
Of friends, and known the stuff
Of dreams: Death cannot rob us much. . . .



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