Classic Poem

I WENT where two dear friends did dwell,
Husband and Wife—to bid farewell,
Before I left my peaceful home,
Alone through distant lands to roam.
I found them by their sparkling hearth,
In perfect love and inward mirth—
Through virtue happy in themselves,
And sporting with four beauteous Elves,
Who, like the tender flowers of Spring
Mov'd by the zephyr's lightest wing,
Danced here and there in playful guise,
With sunny heads and laughing eyes,
With song of joy and wanton shout—
A happy—restless—maddening rout!

They look unto the opening door,
And all their noisy mirth is o'er!
To graveness sink their wanton wiles,
And blushes hide their struggling smiles
Quick to their mother's lap they run,
As trembling to be look'd upon—
There half-delighted—half-afraid,
They hide, then slowly raise the head—
And venture thus to look at me
With sweet restraint and bashful glee,
Till the dear child I love the best
With downcast look steals from the rest,
And with an infant's blessed art
Twines her white arms around my heart.

And now the stir—the noise revive!
The little cottage seems alive,
As if a new-awaken'd soul
Like light were gladdening through the whole.
The happy parents smile to see
Their Mary lisping on my knee
With bolder look and freer tone,
As if she felt that seat her own.
While oft her gamesome brothers tried
To win from my protecting side
The little truant maid away,
By taunting jibe and novel play.
But vain both jibe and play to move
An infant's heart when touch'd with love!

Soon evening brings the hour of rest—
And Mary on my loving breast
Hath fallen asleep! so not to wake
The blessed babe, I gently take
Her guiltless bosom soft and fair,
Unto her bed—and breathe a prayer
That all her future life be spent
Happy as she is innocent!
Near me her joyful parents stand,
Bless me by name and press my hand—
Their mingling tones my spirit meet,
Though always kind now doubly sweet—
A golden chain in concord mild
Links closely Parents—Friend and Child.

Years past along—and lo! once more
I stand beside that cottage-door;—
The hour in which I went away
Seems but the eve of yesterday.
Motionless there I linger long,
O'erpower'd with a tumultuous throng
Of memories, fancies, hopes, and fears,
Sinkings of heart, sighs, smiles, and tears.
No cause had I for mournful thought,
Yet in my beating heart there wrought
A dread of something undefined!
While like the hollow midnight wind,
A voice fell sullen on my ear,
“Think not to find your Mary here!”

A dreary stillness reign'd around
Deep as the hush of burial-ground,
As if all life were banish'd thence
By breath of noisome pestilence.
Not so—I met a ghastly man
With haggard eyes and visage wan;
In his dim looks so charg'd with woe
My dearest friend I scarce could know
One moment's pause—then did he fall
Upon my neck—and told me all!
That she my darling girl was dead,
And by his own hands newly laid
Spotless within her spotless shroud—
His voice here died—he wept aloud.

Vainly his tortur'd soul I cheer'd—
When lo! his wretched Wife appear'd,
Unlike that Wife when last we parted,
Then deeply blest—now broken-hearted.
She gaz'd on me with eye-balls wild,
And shriek'd the name of her dead Child;
And with convulsive sobs opprest
She fainted on her Husband's breast!
The memory of that happy night
Came o'er her like a sudden blight!
Those gentle looks—those melting smiles—
Those happy shouts—those wanton wiles—
That dreaming face upon its bed—
—Now lying there, pale, cold, and dead!

Ah me! beneath a beauteous sky
The Fairy-land of peace doth lie,
Through which united Spirits stray
Companions on the destin'd way
That leads to everlasting life!
Yet oft that darkening sky is rife
With thunder-bearing clouds! they fade—
And heaven's blue depths again display'd
Seem steep'd in quiet more profound!
—I walk'd unto the burial-ground,
Where that delightful Child doth rest—
There both her Parents deeply blest!
Methought I saw their souls rejoice,
Listening in heaven that Seraph's voice.