My friend, my brother, you know how we have
Received too much for life.
Our time has surely not been wasted.
Today, and yesterday, and the day before
I opened my ears and my eyes
To know what you have said.
We spoke and smiled and swore
Never would we raise weapons to fight
Nor take anger to our bed
Nor bear thrones through the door.

My friend, my brother, I believe there is
No light like the past.
Time has built wounds on me.
The Spirit of the World, it lives and grows
In our minds and in our acts—
Look at me! and see.
You lost me my love, from Passion’s throes
Which I had found in the last
Ghost of a haunted dream.
But I pardon the wind, where’er it blows.

My friend, my brother, we discern the same
Shadows breathing between us.
Need we spare the truth, just to preserve
Peace and union, such as befit
The hope we to the future entrust?
So shall we someday again deserve
In here, this place together to sit
And reminisce and discuss
The lessons we’ve taken so long to learn
And the pain involved in learning it.