Poems (Markham)/Hearts may warm the winter

by Elizabeth Markham

Hearts May Warm the Winter

Hearts may warm the winter,
 Hearts will melt the snow;
If, while hopes are freezing,
 Friendship be not so.

Worlds of ice may bound us,
 Hearts will break their chains,
While our friends surround us,
 While their love remains.

Household gods lie scattered
 Round the ruined hearth.
Do we mourn them shattered,
 Do we weep their dearth?

No; if love but cheer us
 On our withered way;
Friendship, too, keep near us,
 What of their decay?
E. M.
Oregon Spectator, January 11, 1849.