TO MY DEAR DEPARTED FRIEND.

Beloved! no—I will not wish for thee, Nor call thee from thy dear delightful home! Resign’d and patient still, O, let me be, While ’tis my lot in loneliness to roam. Soon—soon—beloved! I shall go to thee; The longest life is short—time flies apace; I know ’tis well thou canst not come to me, Then would I loiter in my heavenly race. O, ’twas an evil and a bitter thing, When I, forsaking thee, my Father God! With all my heart to earth’s delights did cling, And brought upon myself thy chast’ning rod. Then let me bear it—though it break my heart; I’ll bless the hand that keeps me in the way; And if again from thee my steps depart, O, send the rod, lest I forever stray.