Classic Poem

A LL'S for the best! be sanguine and cheerful:
Trouble and sorrow are friends in disguise;
Nothing but Folly goes faithless and fearful,
Courage for ever is happy and wise:
All for the best! if a man would but know it;
Providence wishes us all to be blest;
This is no dream of the pundit or poet,
Heaven is gracious, and — All's for the best!

All for the best! set this on your standard,
Soldier of sadness, or pilgrim of love,
Who to the shores of Despair may have wander'd
A way-wearied swallow, or heart-stricken dove:
All for the best! — be a man but confiding,
Providence tenderly governs the rest,
And the frail bark of his creature is guiding
Wisely and warily all for the best!

All for the best! then fling away terrors,
Meet all your fears and your foes in the van,
And in the midst of your dangers or errors,
Trust like a child, while you strive like a man:
All's for the best! — unbiass'd, unbounded,
Providence reigns from the East to the West;
And, by both wisdom and mercy surrounded,
Hope and be happy that — All's for the best!

FOR MUSIC

I LOVE to linger on my track
Wherever I have dwelt,
In after years to loiter back,
And feel as once I felt:
My foot falls lightly on the sward,
Yet leaves a deathless dint,
With tenderness I still regard
Its unforgotten print.

Old places have a charm for me
The new can ne'er attain,
Old faces — how I long to see
Their kindly looks again!
Yet, these are gone: while all around
Is changeable as air,
I'll anchor in the solid ground
And root my memories there!