OUR TEACHERS.
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I thought to have thee ever by my side.
And so the hours swept by, till thou didst spread
A sudden wing, and prove thine angel-birth.
O, by the keen regret of those lost hours,
Pure spirit! teach me with firm grasp to seize
The passing moment, not with duty's deed,
Or the defrauded sympathies of love,
To load the uncertain future; but with prayer
Propitiate Him who metes our fleeting days,
And teacheth wisdom from the voiceless tomb.
