232
HOURS OF IDLENESS.
2.
For these this toy of blushing hue
I prize with zeal before unknown,
It tells me of a Friend I knew,
Who loved me for myself alone.
3.
It tells me what how few can say
Though all the social tie commend;
Recorded in my heart 'twill lay,[1]
It tells me mine was once a Friend.
4.
Through many a weary day gone by,
With time the gift is dearer grown;
And still I view in Memory's eye
That teardrop sparkle through my own.
5.
And heartless Age perhaps will smile,
Or wonder whence those feelings sprung;
Yet let not sterner souls revile,
For Both were open, Both were young.
- ↑ [For the irregular use of "lay" for "lie," compare "The Adieu" (st. 10, l. 4, p. 241), and the much-disputed line, "And dashest him to earth—there let him lay" (Childe Harold, canto iv. st. 180).]
