Our Oldest Friend

I give you the health of the oldest friend     That, short of eternity, earth can lend, -     A friend so faithful and tried and true     That nothing can wean him from me and you.     When first we screeched in the sudden blaze     Of the daylight's blinding and blasting rays,     And gulped at the gaseous, groggy air,     This old, old friend stood waiting there.     And when, with a kind of mortal strife,     We had gasped and choked into breathing life,     He watched by the cradle, day and night,     And held our hands till we stood upright.     From gristle and pulp our frames have grown     To stringy muscle and solid bone;     While we were changing, he altered not;     We might forget, but he never forgot.     He came with us to the college class, -     Little cared he for the steward's pass!     All the rest must pay their fee,     Put the grim old dead-head entered free.     He stayed with us while we counted o'er     Four times each of the seasons four;     And with every season, from year to year,     The dear name Classmate he made more dear.     He never leaves us, - he never will,     Till our hands are cold and our hearts are still;     On birthdays, and Christmas, and New-Year's too,     He always remembers both me and you.     Every year this faithful friend     His little present is sure to send;     Every year, wheresoe'er we be,     He wants a keepsake from you and me.     How he loves us! he pats our heads,     And, lo! they are gleaming with silver threads;     And he 's always begging one lock of hair,     Till our shining crowns have nothing to wear.     At length he will tell us, one by one,     "My child, your labor on earth is done;     And now you must journey afar to see     My elder brother, - Eternity!"     And so, when long, long years have passed,     Some dear old fellow will be the last, -     Never a boy alive but he     Of all our goodly company!     When he lies down, but not till then,     Our kind Class-Angel will drop the pen     That writes in the day-book kept above     Our lifelong record of faith and love.     So here's a health in homely rhyme     To our oldest classmate, Father Time!     May our last survivor live to be     As bald and as wise and as tough as he!