1840

ON A PORTRAIT OF I.F., PAINTED BY MARGARET GILLIES[410]

Composed 1840.—Published 1850

We gaze—nor grieve to think that we must die,

But that the precious love this friend hath sown

Within our hearts, the love whose flower hath blown

Bright as if heaven were ever in its eye,

Will pass so soon from human memory; 5

And not by strangers to our blood alone,

But by our best descendants be unknown,