Classic Poem

TO MY FRIENDS.

I' VE wandered in the world; I've left tried friends
With tearful eyes and swelling heart, behind;
I've linked my soul to others; Heaven sends
This power in infinite kindness, thus to bind
A new the cord that has been once untwined:
Thus are we made for love and sympathy.
I've seen the Past grow faint and dusk, and pined
For days that nevermore shall come to me.
Yet have I never loved those friends the less
Whom I have gathered in my later days;
For in my hours of gloom and loneliness,
All shine like clustering stars, with purest rays,
Though some whom I have followed up the skies,
May dearer be than those bright ones I saw not rise.