Say, can they part us, Love, whose hard decree
Forbids my heart to breathe one thought to thee?
Will chilling absence leave affection cold,
No longer cherish'd when no longer told—
And time's swift footsteps, as they onward move,
Wear out the sacred impress of our love?
Day after day, month after month will close,
And none will whisper of the friend we lose;
The form that memory paints will disappear,
And e'en the name grow strange upon the ear.
But can they part us? No, my Friend belov'd!
Chosen in sunshine, has in darkness prov'd!
They cannot part us.— There will be an hour
When time and distance must forego their power;
Those blissful moments when our spirits stray
Beyond this cold world's transitory sway;
When life's low interests to oblivion fall,
When earth is nothing, and when heav'n is all!
'Tis then our spirits, now to distance driv'n,
United midway betwixt earth and heav'n,
Mov'd by one impulse, kindled by one flame,
The same our feelings, and our hopes the same;
Unmindful of the space that time has run,
Mingled in prayer, shall feel that we are one.
They cannot part us, while our footsteps tread
One path to glory, by one spirit led.
But should it be! — Yet I forbear the thought;
Thy heart divines it, though I speak it not.
Then we indeed were parted, and our feet
Must traverse paths that would not, could not meet.
Attun'd to other hopes, no thought of mine
Could meet in heav'n a kindred thought of thine;
And when I urg'd my lowly suit for thee,
No prayer of thine would echo back the plea.
The tie that time and distance parted never,
Hopes disunited might dissolve for ever!
Forbids my heart to breathe one thought to thee?
Will chilling absence leave affection cold,
No longer cherish'd when no longer told—
And time's swift footsteps, as they onward move,
Wear out the sacred impress of our love?
Day after day, month after month will close,
And none will whisper of the friend we lose;
The form that memory paints will disappear,
And e'en the name grow strange upon the ear.
But can they part us? No, my Friend belov'd!
Chosen in sunshine, has in darkness prov'd!
They cannot part us.— There will be an hour
When time and distance must forego their power;
Those blissful moments when our spirits stray
Beyond this cold world's transitory sway;
When life's low interests to oblivion fall,
When earth is nothing, and when heav'n is all!
'Tis then our spirits, now to distance driv'n,
United midway betwixt earth and heav'n,
Mov'd by one impulse, kindled by one flame,
The same our feelings, and our hopes the same;
Unmindful of the space that time has run,
Mingled in prayer, shall feel that we are one.
They cannot part us, while our footsteps tread
One path to glory, by one spirit led.
But should it be! — Yet I forbear the thought;
Thy heart divines it, though I speak it not.
Then we indeed were parted, and our feet
Must traverse paths that would not, could not meet.
Attun'd to other hopes, no thought of mine
Could meet in heav'n a kindred thought of thine;
And when I urg'd my lowly suit for thee,
No prayer of thine would echo back the plea.
The tie that time and distance parted never,
Hopes disunited might dissolve for ever!
