Page:Poems Griffith.djvu/172

To join the angel harmonies that float
Upon the air of Eden.

            Yet, oh stay!
The earth is beautiful to thee; and while
Thou lingerest here, thy presence makes it bright
And beautiful to me. Stay! stay! oh stay!
And do not leave my life a cheerless night,
Without one gleaming star upon the cold
Blue desert of its sky. My heart has flung
The whole wealth of its hoarded love on thee;
Fame's choicest garland blooms upon thy brow,
Won proudly by thy glorious genius; thine
Is the loud worship of the shouting throng;
Fortune has poured her treasures at thy feet,
And many friends, who love thee earnestly,
Are watching with alternate hope and fear
From day to day the changes of thy face,
Betokening life or death.

             Then live, oh live
For me, for friends, for glory, for mankind!