TO AMOS C. CLAPP. Old friend, the cycle of whose nuptial round
Has turned the golden matrimonial bound; Five decades' mint now stamp your metal true,
Five generations sterling gleam in you. Let not the wedlock's day be deemed declining,
Through which this golden sheen of lives is shining. How few upon such gilded heights may meet,
How many seek them vain with faltering feet! Too rare again their wedding bells are rung,
Too faint their notes for yours to lapse unsung. What treasured thoughts these fifty years unseal--
What freighted themes their lifted veils reveal! Tried in the crucible that ever glows,
In time your life connubial brighter grows; For you and her who share we ask yet more--
The plaudits of our hearts bespeak encore. May she and you shine on as burnished gold endures--
May benison of years as bright be hers and yours.