Cofachiqui, and Other Poems/On a photograph
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ON A PHOTOGRAPH.
DEAR, gay, good-natured friend, I got
Your portrait, by the sunbeams wrought
So deftly, with much pleasure.
Henceforth your pleasant pictured face
Shall in my album hold high place,
More prized than royal treasure.
Your portrait, by the sunbeams wrought
So deftly, with much pleasure.
Henceforth your pleasant pictured face
Shall in my album hold high place,
More prized than royal treasure.
And oft my eyes shall on it rest
When I am gloomy and depressed
And it shall bring me cheer.
How the mysterious light and shade
So curiously blent have made
Your very semblance here.
When I am gloomy and depressed
And it shall bring me cheer.
How the mysterious light and shade
So curiously blent have made
Your very semblance here.
Though years absence had gone by,
To see at will, with mental eye,
Your face would not be hard;
Yet I shall bless the magic light
That has transferred your presence bright
And fixed it to this card.
To see at will, with mental eye,
Your face would not be hard;
Yet I shall bless the magic light
That has transferred your presence bright
And fixed it to this card.
And as this card before me lies,
What varied visions mingling rise!
What thoughts in tumult throng:
For oh! the years since we have met,
When measured by our friendship, yet
If few, seem ages long.
What varied visions mingling rise!
What thoughts in tumult throng:
For oh! the years since we have met,
When measured by our friendship, yet
If few, seem ages long.
How many scenes remembered lie
In that short past the stranger eye
Would coldly look upon!
Which to the stranger heart would bring
No memories pleasant as the spring,
Recall no pleasures gone;
In that short past the stranger eye
Would coldly look upon!
Which to the stranger heart would bring
No memories pleasant as the spring,
Recall no pleasures gone;
Events which told would trifling seem,
Unmeaning as a broken dream
To all but us on earth;
But by association yet
Can fill us with subdued regret
Or move to smiles and mirth.
Unmeaning as a broken dream
To all but us on earth;
But by association yet
Can fill us with subdued regret
Or move to smiles and mirth.
They from my mind shall ne'er depart,
Their memory lingers in my heart
As songs that loved ones sing
Still linger in the ravished ear,
Or sweet perfumes that many a year
'Round treasured keepsakes cling.
Their memory lingers in my heart
As songs that loved ones sing
Still linger in the ravished ear,
Or sweet perfumes that many a year
'Round treasured keepsakes cling.
We've trod as amateurs one stage,
Together seen the battle's rage
Cloud the high southern sun.
We've danced full oft with the same gay girls,
Our hearts were snared by the same dark curls,
By the same bright eyes were won.
Together seen the battle's rage
Cloud the high southern sun.
We've danced full oft with the same gay girls,
Our hearts were snared by the same dark curls,
By the same bright eyes were won.
Then I recall that northern trip
We thought to end by taking ship
To mix in Cuban strife.
We sadly bade the world adieu
(That is to say, its chosen few),
And "turned our backs on life."
We thought to end by taking ship
To mix in Cuban strife.
We sadly bade the world adieu
(That is to say, its chosen few),
And "turned our backs on life."
We trod the northern knolls of sand,
We saw tall pines in close ranks stand
And foaming rapids sweep;
We crossed Black River's rushing tide
And saw Superior rolling wide
His icy waters deep.
We saw tall pines in close ranks stand
And foaming rapids sweep;
We crossed Black River's rushing tide
And saw Superior rolling wide
His icy waters deep.
We walked the city's bustling pave,
We rode the river's rippling wave
And paced the dark, foul deck.
We two trod many a weary mile,
But kept for mutual cheer a smile,
As though we did not reck.
We rode the river's rippling wave
And paced the dark, foul deck.
We two trod many a weary mile,
But kept for mutual cheer a smile,
As though we did not reck.
When we employment vainly sought
And in our pockets change was not,
We shared the scant, dry crust;
Yet laughed and joked to hear "dead beats"
Who long had looked in vain for treats
Beg hard for drinks on trust,
And in our pockets change was not,
We shared the scant, dry crust;
Yet laughed and joked to hear "dead beats"
Who long had looked in vain for treats
Beg hard for drinks on trust,
We lay uncovered side by side
In Ashland's gloomy forests wide,
Cheered by the camp-fire's light,
The frozen, leaf-strewn ground our bed,
Our roof the stormy clouds o'erhead
And cold the cheerless night.
In Ashland's gloomy forests wide,
Cheered by the camp-fire's light,
The frozen, leaf-strewn ground our bed,
Our roof the stormy clouds o'erhead
And cold the cheerless night.
We lay and talked of days long past,
Of days too happy far to last,
And hopes which now were fled;
Of failing aims and unreached ends,
Of distant loves and distant friends,
Some true, some false, some dead.
Of days too happy far to last,
And hopes which now were fled;
Of failing aims and unreached ends,
Of distant loves and distant friends,
Some true, some false, some dead.
And as the visions memory brought
Appeared, our hearts swelled high and hot
Or sank with gloom oppressed.
Thus passed the cheerless night away
And dawned another gloomy day
Upon our broken rest.
Appeared, our hearts swelled high and hot
Or sank with gloom oppressed.
Thus passed the cheerless night away
And dawned another gloomy day
Upon our broken rest.
Such, then, our mutual past has been—
What lies the future's vail within
Nor you nor I can tell.
If e'er again we 'll tread one way,
Or you, while I abroad still stray,
In Clarvand e'er shall dwell.
What lies the future's vail within
Nor you nor I can tell.
If e'er again we 'll tread one way,
Or you, while I abroad still stray,
In Clarvand e'er shall dwell.
A thousand leagues now 'tween us lie,
For o'er me is the tropic sky,
Around the burning sand;
While you behold the wheat-fields' sheen,
The oak-groves and the corn-fields green
Of our fair northern land.
For o'er me is the tropic sky,
Around the burning sand;
While you behold the wheat-fields' sheen,
The oak-groves and the corn-fields green
Of our fair northern land.
I wish you present happiness
If that in life's poor wilderness
May glad a human heart,
And hope that in some better land
I'll feel again your clasping hand
And ne'er thereafter part,
If that in life's poor wilderness
May glad a human heart,
And hope that in some better land
I'll feel again your clasping hand
And ne'er thereafter part,
May God forget me at the last
If I forget you and the past
We have together spent.
True friend you've been in darkest days,
This tribute of good-will and praise
For that to you is sent.
If I forget you and the past
We have together spent.
True friend you've been in darkest days,
This tribute of good-will and praise
For that to you is sent.
Success to you in Love's crusade,
And may you win your lovely maid
Despite that other fellow.
And now, my friend, I'll write adieu,
Though often yet I hope to see you.
From, ever yours,Castello.
And may you win your lovely maid
Despite that other fellow.
And now, my friend, I'll write adieu,
Though often yet I hope to see you.
From, ever yours,Castello.