“We have been friends together”

Caroline Elizabeth Sarah (Sheridan) Norton (1808–1877)

WE have been friends together

In sunshine and in shade,

Since first beneath the chestnut-tree

In infancy we played.

But coldness dwells within thy heart,

A cloud is on thy brow;

We have been friends together,

Shall a light word part us now?

We have been gay together;

We have laughed at little jests;

For the fount of hope was gushing

Warm and joyous in our breasts,

But laughter now hath fled thy lip,

And sullen glooms thy brow;

We have been gay together,

Shall a light word part us now?

We have been sad together;

We have wept with bitter tears

O’er the grass-grown graves where slumbered

The hopes of early years.

The voices which were silent then

Would bid thee cheer thy brow;

We have been sad together,

Shall a light word part us now?