Page:The songs that Quinte sang.djvu/80

76 Long years have passed since we last met,
 * Long years of mingled joy and pain,

And years may come and vanish yet
 * Ere we two meet again.

The path I’ve trod since then, dear friend,
 * Has proven rough unto my feet;

I’ve learned that Life holds in the end
 * More bitterness than sweet.

And now on this glad New Year’s day,
 * When all the land is bright with cheer,

I pause beside the mile-stone gray
 * That marks another year.

Here Friendship comes with outstretched hand
 * Her chosen, favored ones to meet.

Unnoticed and alone I stand—
 * I have no friend to greet.

In bitterness I turn away
 * And sigh: “Is there not one that’s true,

Whose friendship can outlast a day?”
 * And then I think of you.

O truest heart! O noblest friend
 * God ever sent to comfort me,

Here at the Old Year’s fruitless end
 * My soul cries out to thee.