Classic Poem

One good old friend I had in boyhood's days,
Who far and wide about the World had been—
Had battles fought, and sieged cities seen,
And met adventure in a thousand ways,
That oft he told to me, in homely phrase,
Haphazard, like his careless heart, but clean:
It seem'd to ease the pains that rack'd him keen
To be the hero of my childish plays.

And when they put the old man in his grave,
I mind I stood beside—but did not see:
For thro' a blur of tears there came to me
A vision as of sunlight, and a brave
Awaken'd soul outsailing cheerily—
Uplift upon a wondrous azure wave.