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AT PARTING.
Keep thou amidst the fulness of thy days
Some little space apart for thoughts of me,
Where all the best I have and am may be
Familiar and essential to thy ways;
Make thou the hours as shining argosies
Emblazoned with the love I bear to thee,
And freighted with my spirit's hidden plea—
At once thy inspiration and thy praise.
For he who keeps within his heart a shrine
Where tender dreams may gather, makes defenc
Against encroaching tides that undermine
The soul's integrity and confidence,
And I would have, in every act of thine,
Love's presence conscious to thy deeper sense.
