A LOSS.


How hard a thing it is to part

From those we love and cherish;

How deeply does it pain one's heart

To know all things must perish!



And when a friend and comrade dear

Is lost to us forever,

We feel how frail are all things here,

Since e'en best friends must sever.



I, too, have lost a friend, who broke

Its power when care was near me;

And troubles disappeared in smoke

When he was by to cheer me.



But as friends fall when valued most,

Like fruit that over-ripe is.

My loved companion I have lost,--

That friend my meerschaum pipe is!



_Judy_ (1873).



More

;