Passion-Flowers (Howe)/The Fellow Pilgrim

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THE FELLOW PILGRIM.
When I read o'er the lines I tracedWhen thou and I together were,My wandering thoughts restrain their haste,The power of thy mind is there.
The mind that laid its grasp on me,A friendly grasp, but firm and strong,First from my errors shook me free,Then led me, brotherlike, along,
Mid lovely sights, and holy sounds,And landscapes, smiling green and fair,To thought and duty's noblest bounds,And heart's delights, refined and rare.
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Beside thee, in the solemn aisleThe anthem's swelling notes I heard;There seemed a glory in thy smile,A lesson in thy lightest word.
The mighty cadence shook my heart,Like a frail pennon in the gale,And while I wept and prayed apart,Thy cheek with strange delight grew pale.
At tombs of poets and of kingsThe pilgrim's pious debt I paid;Oft as my faint soul spread its wingsThy manlier thought did give it aid.
Thou knew'st not then how sick a heartEssayed the measure of thine own,Nor how thy probings made it smartWith sorrow to the world unknown.
Be blest of God, and so farewell!Southward, the bird of exile flies,But in her bosom bears a spellThat changes not with changing skies.
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