The Lost Friend

The people take the thing of course, They marvel not to see This strange, unnatural divorce Betwixt delight and me.

I know the face of sorrow, and I know Her voice with all its varied cadences; Which way she turns and treads; how at her ease Things fit her dreary largess to bestow.

Where sorrow long abides, some be that grow To hold her dear, but I am not of these; Joy is my friend, not sorrow; by strange seas, In some far land we wandered, long ago.

O faith, long tried, that knows no faltering! O vanished treasure of her hands and face!-- Beloved--to whose memory I cling, Unmoved within my heart she holds her place.

And never shall I hail that other "friend," Who yet shall dog my footsteps to the end.