402 



STANZAS. 



Such friendship was as it first began ; 



And the first of friends were the God, the Man. 



But we twain were not bound bj such highborn ties ; 



Our souls, our minds, and our thoughts were strange, 

 Our ways were not one, nor our sympathies. 



We had severed aims, we had diverse range ; 

 In the stern drear Present his lot was cast, 

 AVhile I hoped for the Euture and loved the Past. 



'Twixt man and woman use oft hath bred 



The habits that feebly affection feign. 

 While the common board and the genial bed 



And Time's welding force links a length of chain ; 

 Till, where Love was not, it hath sometimes proved 

 This has loved and lived, that has lived and loved. 



But 'twixt man and man it may not so hap ; 



Each man is his own and his proper sphere ; 

 At some point, perchance, may the lines o'erlap ; 



The far rest is far as the near is near — 

 Save when the orbs are of friend and friend 

 And the circles' limits perforce must blend. 



But the one sole point at which he and I 



Could touch, was the contact of vulgar minds ; 



'Twas interest's forcible, feeble tie. 



Which binds, but with lasting bonds ne'er binds ; 



And our objects fated to disagree. 



What way went I, and what way went he ? 



Tet were we comrades for years and years, 

 And endured in its troth our companionship 



Through a life of chances, of hopes, and fears ; 

 Nor a word of harshness e'er passed the lip, 



Nor a thought unkind dvrelt in either heart, 



Till we chanced — by what chance did it hap ? — to part. 



