Faces, like stars, rise on our little ken;
Shine on our souls with warm and cheering ray.
Then, like the stars, they pass from us again,
Leaving the dreary world of yesterday.
Friends slip into our little world awhile.
Joys come to thrill us with their rapture keen.
The friends go trudging on their winding mile
The joys fade as a picture on the screen.
Altho unseen, they are not wholly gone.
A friendship once established cannot die.
A joy once tasted sweetly lingers on,
A perfumed presence never seen but nigh.
In the great drama of the fleeting years
They come upon the stage and play their part.
Then, tho each wondrous vision disappears,
It leaves its deathless image on the heart.