The departed Friend

Horowhenua Chronicle, 28 August 1913, Page 4

The departed Friend

Though lie that ever kind and Hue Kept stoutly step by step with you, Your whole, long gusty lifetime I lirough, ]3e gone a while before He now a moment gone before, Yet doubt not; anon the seasons shall restore Your friend to you. He has but turned a corner still He pushes on with right good will Through mire and marsh, by heugli and hill, That self-same arduous way Th at self-same upland, hopeful way That you and he through many a doubtful day Attempted still. He is not dead, this friend not | dead, Hut in the paths we mortals (read (jot some new trifling steps ahead And nearer to the end. So that you, too, owe past the bend Shall meet again, as face to face, this "friend You fancy dead. Push gayly on, strong heart, Ihe while ( You trayel forward, mile by mile, He loiters with a backward smile Till you can overtake, And strains his eye to search his wake, Or, whistling, as lie sees you through the break, "Wails on a siile. Robert Louis Stevenson.