And in the hush that followed the prayer,

Was heard the old clock on the stair,

(All are scattered now and fled,
Some are married, some are dead;
And when I ask, with throbs of pain,
"Ah! when shall they all meet again
As in the days long-since gone by,
The ancient timepiece makes reply, --
"Forever never!

Never - forever!"

Never here, forever there,

Where all parting, pain, and care,

And death, and time shall disappear, —

Forever there, but never here!

THE ARROW AND THE SONG.

I SHOT an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where ;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where ;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.