TO AN OLD FRIEND IN ENGLAND.

Was it for nothing in the years gone by,

O my love, O my friend,

You thrilled me with your noble words of faith?—

Hope beyond life, and love, love beyond death!

Yet now I shudder, and yet you did not die,

O my friend, O my love!

Was it for nothing in the dear dead years,

O my love, O my friend,

I kissed you when you wrung my heart from me,

And gave my stubborn hand where trust might be?

Yet then I smiled, and see, these bitter tears,

O my friend, O my love!

No bitter words to say to you have I,

O my love, O my friend!

That faith, that hope, that love was mine, not yours!

And yet that kiss, that clasp endures, endures.

I have no bitter words to say. Good-bye,

O my friend, O my love!