After-Thought

.   I thought of Thee, my partner and my guide,
 As being past away.-Vain sympathies!
 For, backward, Duddon! as I cast my eyes,
 I see what was, and is, and will abide;
 Still glides the Stream, and shall for ever glide;
 The Form remains, the Function never dies;
 While we, the brave, the mighty, and the wise,
 We Men, who in our morn of youth defied
 The elements, must vanish;-be it so!
  Enough, if something from our hands have power
  To live, and act, and serve the future hour;
  And if, as toward the silent tomb we go,
  Through love, through hope, and faith's transcendent dower,
  We feel that we are greater than we know.