Page:Pocahontas, and Other Poems.djvu/173

 THE FRIENDS OF MAN. 157

" Hast thou not lost, with careless key, Something that I have entrusted to thee ? "

Her pausing answer was sad and low, " It may be so ! It may be so ! The lock of my casket is worn and weak, And Time, with a plunderer's eye doth seek ;

Something I miss, but I cannot say

What it is he hath stolen away,

For only tinsel and trifles spread

Over the alter'd path we tread ; But the gems thou didst give me when life was new,

Here they are, all told and true, Diamonds and rubies of changeless hue."

But while in grave debate, Mournful, and ill at ease, they sate,

Finding treasures disarrang'd, Blaming the fickle world, though they themselves

were chang'd,

Hope on a buoyant wing did soar, Which folded underneath her robe she wore, And spread its rainbow plumes with new delight, And jeoparded its strength, in a bold, heavenward flight.

The dying lay on his couch of pain, And his soul went forth to the angel-train,

�� �