Classic Poem

Oh , George! it is a cheering thing to know
That, as we travel through the waste of life,
'Mid much of sorrow, weariness, and strife,
There are some spots of beauty as we go:
Yes, there are hours apart from care and woe,
Which we may pleasantly and wisely spend
With wife or child, with lover or with friend,
And feel our lot not all unkind below
Then let us meet as heretofore, and so
Expand the soul, and ease the burdened breast:
The song, the temperate cup, the harmless jest
Shall gild the fleeting moments as they flow,
And teach us, by our sympathies, to find
The " lights and shadows " of each other's mind.