Gone, with their laughter and their silent sorrow;
Gone, with their weeping and their summer smiles;
Never to them will come a glad to-morrow,
Sweet with the dreams that many a day beguiled.
Gayness or sadness in their voices ringing.
Making one love them for the sounds they gave;
Sunlight or shadow in their pathway mingling —
All is now swept into the silent grave.
Nought but their shadowy memory remaineth,
Dim and uncertain through the lapse of years;
Nought their clear image in the mind retaineth,
Saving love's chain cemented by our tears.
Chain that is forged in furnace of our sorrows.
Links knit together by long-cherished hopes,
Infinite strength and beauty thus it borrows,
Strength and endurance with which nought can cope.
Through the soft gleam of many-tinted fancies.
O'er their sweet memory such light is thrown.
Sadness divine and tenderness enhancing,
Darkening all other sunshine by its own.