Absent Friends
By Sarah Tabor on the Copia, 1848

When pleasure lays at music strain,
And mirth assails the heart in vain,
So pensive thoughts the bosom bends
And finds a theme in absent friends

Remembrance then unfolds her store
Afflictionstale oft told before
And fancys magic vision bends
To catch a view of absent friends

Pale apprehension starts with fear
Some sad vicissitudes to hear
And hope with causeless tenour blends
For fate unknown to absent friends

The parent fond, and dutious child,
The feeling heart by love beguiled,
Each to kind Heaven a boon commands
That Heaven be kind to absent friends