| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 132. We Were Boys Together |
| | | By George Pope Morris |
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| WE were boys together, | |
| And never can forget | |
| The school-house near the heather, | |
| In childhood where we met; | |
| The humble home to memory dear, | 5 |
| Its sorrows and its joys; | |
| Where woke the transient smile or tear, | |
| When you and I were boys. | |
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| We were youths together, | |
| And castles built in air, | 10 |
| Your heart was like a feather, | |
| And mine weighed down with care; | |
| To you came wealth with manhood’s prime, | |
| To me it brought alloys— | |
| Foreshadowed in the primrose time, | 15 |
| When you and I were boys. | |
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| We ’re old men together: | |
| The friends we loved of yore, | |
| With leaves of autumn weather, | |
| Are gone forevermore. | 20 |
| How blest to age the impulse given, | |
| The hope time ne’er destroys, | |
| Which led our thoughts from earth to heaven | |
| When you and I were boys! | |
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