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The Best of Friends Must Part

As through life’s journey on we go,
Good friends we often make,
To part from whom we feel the throe
Of a sorrow for their sake.

We’re loath to lose them one and all
Endeared in a busy mart,
But still must heed our duty’s call,
And the best of friends must part.

Thro’ æons of time we still can see
Some dear remembered spot,
So friends for years may silent be
And yet forgotten not.

Kind wishes, thoughts, at times will flow,
As from a fountain’s heart,
For those we loved in the long ago—
For the best of friends must part.

Tho’ we hope and yearn to keep
The dearest by our side,
They’ll roam away o’er the briny deep
As far as the world is wide.

The days will pass as they passed before,
The sun will follow rain;
But the ones we love may never more
Come back to us again.

E’en on the hill in the rain to-day
I said farewell to Mag;
And since she’s gone for e’er and aye,
The moments seem to lag.

And how those little careless words,
And actions of the past,
Are rung again on memory’s chords,
Where they’re for ever cast.

A gentle word, a tender smile,
A glance of her dark blue eyes,
A soft white hand firm clasped awhile
And then all gladness dies

Of her kind voice I miss the sound
The acts of a noble heart;
But time must pass, the world go round,
And the best of friends must part.

When the rose is plucked the thorns remain,
Until Time brings decay;
And our truest friends must leave us pain
And bear all sweets away.

But this I know, you’ll sometimes send
A thought, my bonny belle,
Across the plains to your bardic friend —
Then, Maggie, fare you well!

Edward S. Sorenson, Casino, January 25, 1895

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