Friendship in Sorrow

Together, 'neath the early morn,
We took our joyous way,
When clustering blossoms hid the thorn,
And all around was gay,
And now, when midnight's wildest storms,
The troubled sleeper wake,
And fear unveils its phantom form,
Shall I thy side forsake?

Together, when the spring was new,
From hill, and glen, and bower,
Still arm in arm, we swept the dew,
And cull'd the frequent flower,
And now when Winter's wrath is high,
And vales their robes regret,
And leafless forests quake and sigh,
Shall I thy love forget?

Together, in our blooming age
To Music's realm we turn'd,
Or bending o'er the lesson'd page
The same sweet descant learn'd,
And now, when Time that teacher stern,
Instructs thee how to moan,
Shall I to bowers of pleasure turn
And leave thee sad and lone?

Ah no! beneath misfortune's dart,
Thy cheek bedew'd with tears,
Thou 'rt dearer to my yearning heart,
Than even in cloudless years;
For friendship born of prosperous hours
May have a sparkling eye,
But that which lives when sorrow lowers,
Claims kindred with the sky.

Lydia Howard Sigourney

The Weeping Willow. 1791-1865.