Old friend, of long and long ago,
Brave witness of the stormy time
That saw the slave-mart’s overthrow,
And the new Freedom’s birth sublime,
Through all its toils, and hopes and fears,
While many a friend has passed away,
On the gray steep of eighty years
We hail thee reverently to-day!
The souls of loved ones gone before
Look down, with blessings on thy brow,
And join our greetings as we pour
Thanks for the life sustained till now.
Long may the Pallid Angel wait
To summon thee, and when at last
He leads thee to the Golden Gate,
Be there the loves of all thy past!
