Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/589

JAMES R. BARRICK. James Russell Barrick — a popular contributor to the Louisville Journal, Graham's Magazine, Godey's Lady's Book, and other widely circulated periodicals — is an influential farmer ag^d merchant of the town of Glasgow, Kentucky. He was born in Barren county of that State, on the ninth day of April, 1829. In 1859 Mr. Bar- rick was chosen to represent the legislative district in which he resides ; he has, there- fore, exerted influence in the politics as well as the poetry of Kentucky, and in both is entitled to honorable consideration. ABSENT FRIENDS. We miss their pleasant faces, We miss each gentle smile. That were ever wont to greet us With a loving light the while ; We miss their merry voices In the halls of mirth and glee, We miss them in the dear old haunts, Where their faces used to be. We go out in the morning. When the woods delight the eye, And we gaze out on the beauty Of the smiling earth and sky ; But a vacant place is round us, And a vacant place within, For the scenes that once could cheer us Are not now as they have been. We go out in the even. On the twilight sky to gaze. When the shades of night are rising Softly through the distant haze. And we think of those who loved us, When our days were young and fair, Yet we sigh to think their presence Vanished like a form of air. We feel our pleasures fading, And our joys declining fast, As the shadow of the future Dims the sunlight of the past ; And in vain we look to nature For the light of other years, When our hearts are brimmed with sad- ness, And our eyes suffused with tears. But in dreams we see their faces Full of sunshine as before, Ajid their eyes as bright as ever With the welcome light of yore ; And with words of love they greet us, Heart to heart and hand to hand, Till we feel that we are with them. In a blessed spirit land. THE FOREST STREAM. In a low and ceaseless murmur Gently flows the forest stream. Day and night to nature chanting, Music sweet as song and dream, In the mirrored sky revealing All the beauty of its gleam. (573)