“Dear Carlyle,—Thanks for your brief, friendly missive from
the hills. I have outlived so many friends, and am left with so few, that it is
no wonder I should dwell a good deal more in the past than the present; but I
am nevertheless quite alive to whatever interests and concerns you, and
therefore your wife—never seen by
me, alas! but often heard
| “AN OLD BELIEF” | 235 |
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“It is an old belief
That on some solemn shore
Beyond the sphere of grief
Dear friends shall meet once more—
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Beyond the sphere of Time
And Sin and Fate’s control,
Serene in changeless prime
Of Body and of Soul.
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That creed I fain would keep,
This hope I’ll not forego;
Eternal be the Sleep
Unless to waken so.”
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