I HAVE two friendstwo glorious friendstwo better could not be,
And every night when midnight tolls they meet to laugh with me.
The first was shot by Carlist thievesten years ago in Spain.
The second drowned near Alicantewhile I alive remain.
I love to see their dim white forms come floating through the night,
And grieve to see them fade away in early morning light.
The first with gnomes in the Under Land is leading a lordly life,
The second has married a mermaiden, a beautiful water-wife.
And since I have friends in the Earth and Seawith a few, I trust, on high,
T is a matter of small account to methe way that I may die.
For whether I sink in the foaming flood, or swing or the triple tree,
Or die in my bed, as a Christian should, is all the same to me.
