IT comforts me through all my days

To know that on this strange old earth,

On which we two found human birth,

I have a friend who cares for me.

Not a high God, serene and just,

Who from His calm sure place of bliss

Looks down from His world into this,

And burns me that I grow more white.

But just a man, so strong and dear—

How dear the stars know in the sky,