Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
To Elsie
By Nathaniel Langdon Frothingham (1793–1870)D
Thou too hast joined the train
Of those I ne’er shall see again;—
The world is growing lone.
Mates of my fresher prime,
Associates of my waning time,
The passing and the past.
How many feebly stay!
How many went but yesterday!
What griefs already old!
Fair friend, through many a year
Of spirits light and feelings dear,
Thou must desert me,—thou!
To mark the closing scene,
After such meetings as have been?
Speak,—or let me be heard.
Thy slender hand be set
In mine. One prayer together yet
We’ll breathe, ere all is o’er.
I would not have thee back,
Stretched out again on this world’s rack.
Go forth, go forth, to live.