Littell's Living Age/Volume 144/Issue 1863/Sonnet on a Drowned Friend

by P. P. A.

Sonnet on a Drowned Friend

Let not the waters keep their hapless dead
Hither and thither hurled, we know not where,
To keep alive the clinging sense of care,
And haunt a few poor hearts with hope and dread!
May kindliest mould enwrap thy youthful head,
That none may ever mourn thy timeless lot
Without the solace of one quiet spot
Where love bath laid thee to thy lonely bed.

Let earth's most pleasant green above thee wave!
That so, when time which steals away our woes
Hath reconciled the sigh, and dried the tear,
The sad, yet sweet and gentle thoughts of those
To whom in life thou wert so very dear,
May sleep like quiet sunbeams on thy grave.