POETRY.
ALL ABSENT FRIENDS.
' All absent friends! Stand up! Upright! Let honour to the toast be paid. E'en yonder little faery maid Shall taste our loving-cup to-night! 'Those homeward bound with favouring gales, Those 'neath Gibraltar's frowning height, Or camped in India's sultry night, And those in our sweet Kentish vales. ' 'Neath stormy sky by tempest driven— Midst howling wind and wintry wave, Battling shipwreck'd men to save, Or leading dying souls to heaven!' Dear absent friends ! Alas ! that they Should be now absent from our board, And touch a sadden'd, quivering chord In hearts attuned to Christmas Day! All absent friends ?—Aye, if our thought Go forth to those long lov'd so well, Now passed away ! Do they not tell 'Twas all in tenderest mercy wrought ? ' So banish sadness from our side, Bid Dark Care ride his race alone. Hark ! now the ringers' joyous tone Proclaims a merry Christmas-tide ' All absent friends ! In cot, or hall, At home, abroad, where'er they be. Fill up, fill up, with "three times three.' " Dear absent friends ! God bless them all. Henry Frith, in London Society.
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Bibliographic details
Globe, Volume III, Issue 243, 20 March 1875, Page 3
Word Count
183POETRY. Globe, Volume III, Issue 243, 20 March 1875, Page 3
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