Longfellow.
The following we derive from the same source with the above. It is placed in type from the MS. of Mrs. Fanny Kemble Butler:
THE PARTING PLEDGE.
I.
Yet once again! but once, before we sever,
Fill me one brimming cup—it is the last,
And let those lips now parting and for ever,
Breathe o'er this pledge 'The memory of the Past!'
II.
Joy's fleeting sun is set, and no to-morrow
Smiles on the gloomy path we tread so fast;
Yet in the bitter cup, o'erfilled with sorrow,
Lives one sweet drop—the memory of the Past!
III.
But one more look from those dear eyes now shining
Through their warm tears, their loveliest and their last.
But one more strain of hands in friendship twining,
Now farewell all, save memory of the Past!