Though sorrow long has worn my heart;

  Though every day I've, counted o'er

Hath brought a new and, quickening smart

  To wounds that rankled fresh before;

Though in my earliest life bereft

  Of tender links by nature tied;

Though hope deceived, and pleasure left;

  Though friends betrayed and foes belied;

I still had hopes—for hope will stay

  After the sunset of delight;

So like the star which ushers day,

  We scarce can think it heralds night!—

I hoped that, after all its strife,

  My weary heart at length should rest.

And, feinting from the waves of life,

  Find harbor in a brother's breast.

That brother's breast was warm with truth,

  Was bright with honor's purest ray;

He was the dearest, gentlest youth—

  Ah, why then was he torn away?

He should have stayed, have lingered here

  To soothe his Julia's every woe;

He should have chased each bitter tear,

  And not have caused those tears to flow.

We saw within his soul expand

  The fruits of genius, nurst by taste;

While Science, with a fostering hand,

  Upon his brow her chaplet placed.

We saw, by bright degrees, his mind

  Grow rich in all that makes men dear;

Enlightened, social, and refined,

  In friendship firm, in love sincere.

Such was the youth we loved so well,

  And such the hopes that fate denied;—

We loved, but ah! could scarcely tell

  How deep, how dearly, till he died!

Close as the fondest links could strain,

  Twined with my very heart he grew;

And by that fate which breaks the chain,

  The heart is almost broken too.