Anticipated Friendship

Friend of my friend! as yet to me unknown, Shall we twain meeting meet and care no more? Already thou hast left thy native shore, And to thine ears the laughter and the moan Of the strange sea by night and day unknown, Its thunder and its music and its roar; A few days hence the journey will be o'er, And I shall know if hopes have likewise flown. As one hears by the fire a father tell His eager child some tales of fairy land, Where no grief is and no funereal bell, But thronging joys and many a happy band; So do I hope fulfillment will be well, And not scant grace, with cold, indifferent hand.