Page:The Atlantic Monthly Volume 13.djvu/336

330 Our Classmate. [March, His speech burst throbbing from its fount And set our colder thoughts aglow, As the hot leaping geysers mount And falling melt the Iceland snow. Some word, perchance, we counted rash, Some phrase our calmness might disclaim ; Yet 't was the sunset lightning's flash, No angry bolt, but harmless flame. Man judges all, God knoweth each ; We read the rule, He. sees the law ; How oft His laughing children teach The truths His prophets never saw ! O friend, whose wisdom flowered in mirth ! Our hearts are sad, our eyes are dim ; He gave thy smiles to brighten earth, < We trust thy joyous soul to Him ! Alas ! our weakness Heaven forgive ! We murmur, even while we trust, '/ How long earth's breathing burdens live, Whose hearts, before they die, are dust ! " But thou ! through grief's untimely tears We ask with half-reproachful sigh, " Couldst thou not watch a few brief years Till Friendship faltered, ' Thou mayst die ' ? " Who loved our boyish years so well ? Who knew so well their pleasant tales, And all those livelier freaks could tell Whose oft-told story never fails ? In vain we turn our aching eyes, In vain we stretch our eager hands, Cold in his wintry shroud he lies Beneath the dreary drifting sands ! Ah, speak not thus ! He lies not there ! We see him, hear him as of old ! He comes ! he claims his wonted chair ; His beaming face we still behold ! His voice rings clear in all our songs, And loud his mirthful accents rise ; To us our brother's life belongs, Dear boys, a classmate never dies !