Sweet speech of years to come, and promises of fondest hope,
And more, a present gladness in each other's trust,
All these fed their souls with the hidden manna of affection,
While their faces shone beatified in the radiance of reflected Eden:
I gazed on that fond youth, and coveted his heart,
Attuned to holiest symphonies, with music in its strings:
For I said, Surely, O Life, thy name is love and beauty,
Thy joys are full, thy looks most fair, thy feelings pure and sensitive.
A man sat beside his merchandize, a careworn altered man,
His waking hope, his nightly fear, were money, and its losses: