Classic Poem

In a sweet secluded nook,
Down beside the quiet brook,
There an humble cabin's seen
Peeping from the ivy green,
While a great elm bends above it,
As it really seem'd to love it.
There old Martha lives alone,
But tho' to the world unknown,
There's a heart that's truly human
In the breast of that old woman!
Oft I seek that quiet place
Just to look upon her face,
And forget this scene of care,
Where men palter, curse, and swear;
And the demons all are rife,
In the never-ending strife
For the vanities of life.

What a world of love there lies
Mirror'd in her deep blue eyes!
What a ray of quiet beauty
They throw round each daily duty!
How it is I cannot tell,
Yet I feel the magic spell
Of the quiet Sabbath grace
Always breathing from her face;
And her voice, so calm and clear,
Lifts me to a higher sphere,
And unlocks my spirit's powers,
Gentle thoughts spring up like flowers;
Gems deep hidden in my heart
Into life and being start;
When that saintly face I see,
Heav'n and immortality
Aye grow clearer unto me.

She's acquaint with sin and sorrow,
Knows their weary burdens thorough,
And her hearth is a retreat
Of sad hearts, of weary feet;
And while others find but flaws,
Quoting still the moral laws,
She but thinks of what is human,
Loves them all, the dear old woman!
Time, which makes most heads but hoary,
Changed hers to a crown of glory.
Many, ah! many a benediction
From the children of affliction,
Blessings from the haunts of care,
Nestle 'mid the glory there;
And she always seems to me
An embodied prophecy
Of a better world to be.