Enoch Arden, &c.

A DEDICATION.

  Dear, near and true—no truer Time himself
  Can prove you, tho' he make you evermore
  Dearer and nearer, as the rapid of life
  Shoots to the fall—take this, and pray that he,
  Who wrote it, honoring your sweet faith in him,
  May trust himself; and spite of praise and scorn,
  As one who feels the immeasurable world,
  Attain the wise indifference of the wise;
  And after Autumn past—if left to pass
  His autumn into seeming-leafless days—
  Draw toward the long frost and longest night,
  Wearing his wisdom lightly, like the fruit
  Which in our winter woodland looks a flower.*

    *The fruit of the Spindle-tree (Euonymus Europaeus).