The Welcome and Farewell.

To meet, and part, as we have met and parted,

One moment cherished and the next forgot,

To wear a smile when almost broken-hearted,

I know full well is hapless woman's lot;

Yet let me, to thy tenderness appealing,

Avert this brief but melancholy doom —

Content that close beside the thorn of feeling,

Grows memory, like a rose, in guarded bloom.

Love's history, dearest, is a sad one ever,

Yet often with a smile I've heard it told!

Oh, there are records of the heart which never

Are to the scrutinizing gaze unrolled!

My eyes to thine may scarce again aspire —

Still in thy memory, dearest let me dwell,

And hush, with this hope, the magnetic wire,

Wild with our mingled welcome and farewell!