Classic Poem

Friend of humanity! whose warm, true heart
Throbbed ever to redeem a fallen race,
Alas! that thou from earthly scenes shouldst part,
Ere thou hadst reached in joy thy native place.

Thy noble husband, too, whose manly soul
Longed for fair freedom in his native land,
Alas! that ocean's waves o'er him should roll,
Ere he could view in peace Columbia's strand.

And that sweet " bird of promise, " whose fair bloom,
Evoked from out thy paradise of love,
Once made so fragrant thine Italian home, —
He, too, went with thee to the land above.

An undivided circle! nevermore
Will tears of sad farewell your cheeks bedew;
For on that other, that celestial shore,
Our God unites for aye pure hearts and true.

Margaret! thy name hath long been to my soul
A talisman of influence pure and strong;
Though born a woman, born to have control
O'er human hearts for virtue far and long.

Thy name shall be remembered when shall die
The name of many a warrior of renown;
For thou on nobler fields won victory,
And gained from history a glorious crown.

Oh for the day when Italy shall know
How to be truly free, in virtue strong!
We wonder not that thou didst love her so, —
Home of the classics and the land of song!

When dawns that day on fair Italia's shore,
Thou shalt be well remembered by the free:
America and Europe evermore
Shall, as the friend of Freedom, think of thee.

And happier thought! where souls, from every chain
Made free, forever sing redeeming grace,
There shall thy loved ones hear thy voice again,
And look with deepest joy upon thy face.

They who love man love God; and they who toil
To break the chains from men and minds below
Win, through the Lamb, a right to heaven's soil,
Where boundless progress each glad soul may know.

God make me worthy, Margaret, to meet thee,
And list to thy rich converse on the shore
Where holy love from heart to heart flows free,
And weary spirits rest forevermore.