Oh! a life’s love, a heart’s long faithfulness,
Even in the presence of eternal things,
Wearing their chasten’d beauty all undimm’d,
Assert their lofty claims; and these are not
For one dark hour to cancel! We are here,
Before that altar which received the vows
Of our unbroken youth; and meet it is
For such a witness, in the sight of heaven,
And in the face of death, whose shadowy arm
Comes dim between us, to record th’ exchange