Elfin land, To W. P. R

The links of amity that bind Our souls together evermore, Are forged as strong as those that joined The brave and beautiful of yore.

Though many a valley-darkening hill And ocean billow may divide, My heart retains thine image still, Through every change of time and tide.

Though lapsing years are friendship’s bane, And absence brings forgetfulness, Yet these exert their might in vain, They cannot make our love the less.

Across the billows of the sea, Where rolls the legend-haunted river, My dreaming spirit flies to thee, Like arrow drawn from Phœbus’ quiver.

About thy hearth-stone, dim and cold, Forsaken Lares droop and moan; They miss the faces, that of old Within their joyous precincts shone.

Full soon the halls of Dis shall hide Both thee and me and all we love, For, bubbles on a rushing tide, Our evanescent beings move.

While yet the stars above us shine, And youth and hope and love remain, O, pilgrim seek thy natal clime, And glad my heart and eyes again!