Classic Poem

OF me shall this be told
Long hence and far away to envying ears,
When o'er my age the years
Their billows of oblivion have rolled:

That all my college days
I sat in class and chapel side by side
With Sill, even then our pride,
As now the land's—when he is past men's praise.

Oft when the preacher read
Some lesson drawn from wandering Israel's woes,
Would Sill his brown eyes close,
And on my shoulder lay his beautiful head.

Still, as the voice droned on,
The dreamer's fancy flitted unopposed;
And when the sermon closed,
Those starry eyes brighter from Dreamland shone.