COMMON SENSE. They knew the length of Plato's beard, And took the Bible for her pattern. And so she said, "Excuse me, friends, With cheerful hearts and smiling faces." 49 THE DEAD. "Still the same, no charm forgot, Nothing lost that Time had given." FORGET not the Dead, who have loved, who have left us, Who bend o'er us now, from their bright homes above; But believe,- never doubt,- that the God who bereft us Permits them to mingle with friends they still love. Repeat their fond words, all their noble deeds cherish, Speak pleasantly of them who left us in tears; Other joys may be lost, but their names should not perish While time bears our feet through the valley of years. THE DEAD. 51 Dear friends of our youth! can we cease to remember The last look of life, and the low-whispered prayer? O, cold be our hearts as the ice of December When Love's tablets record no remembrances there. Then forget not the Dead, who are evermore nigh us, Still floating sometimes to our dream-haunted bed;— In the loneliest hour, in the crowd, they are by us; Forget not the Dead! oh, forget not the Dead! TO A FRIEND. Go, with a manly heart, Where courage leads the brave, High thoughts, not years, have stamped their part, Who shunned the coward's grave. Clear, to the eye of youth, Their record stands enrolled, Who held aloft the flag of Truth, They heard the trumpet sound And marched along that burning ground; Fear not! they rest with God. |