 | Miscellaneous poems |  |
63
CONJECTURE.
Releas'd from its prison of clay,
Where shall the freed soul find its rest?
Will it soar to the regions of day,
With spirits immortal and blest?
Where shall the freed soul find its rest?
Will it soar to the regions of day,
With spirits immortal and blest?
Will it hasten through vast fields of air,
On some distant planet to dwell?
Or to the drear mansions repair,
Of angels who murmured and fell?
On some distant planet to dwell?
Or to the drear mansions repair,
Of angels who murmured and fell?
While the body shall moulder in earth,
Ah! where shall the spirit reside,
Till the archangel summon it forth,
At the last awful bar to be tried?
Ah! where shall the spirit reside,
Till the archangel summon it forth,
At the last awful bar to be tried?
64
Perhaps, when releas'd from all woe,
The body from earth is removed,
The soul may still linger below,
Round those it most tenderly loved.
The body from earth is removed,
The soul may still linger below,
Round those it most tenderly loved.
Perhaps, in reward for its truth,
Kind Heaven may grant it the power
The mind's bitter anguish to sooth,
To soften affliction's sad hour.
Kind Heaven may grant it the power
The mind's bitter anguish to sooth,
To soften affliction's sad hour.
Perhaps, as a punishment due
For wilful, repeated misdeeds,
'Tis condemn'd ev'ry moment to view
The mis'ry which surely succeeds;
For wilful, repeated misdeeds,
'Tis condemn'd ev'ry moment to view
The mis'ry which surely succeeds;
See the heart, which its crimes caus'd to bleed,
Still wrung with incurable grief;
Repent, when too late to recede;
Feel remorse without hope of relief.
Still wrung with incurable grief;
65
Feel remorse without hope of relief.
Oh! might I one prayer prefer,
And that pray'r be not impious deem'd;
May my spirit, when freed, have the care
Of those I in life most esteem'd;
And that pray'r be not impious deem'd;
May my spirit, when freed, have the care
Of those I in life most esteem'd;
In health, hover over their head,
And each threaten'd evil restrain;
In sickness, to watch round their bed,
And mitigate every pain;
And each threaten'd evil restrain;
In sickness, to watch round their bed,
And mitigate every pain;
In the agonized moment of death,
Oh! then to my charge be it given,
To comfort with hope, watch the last fleeting breath,
Catch, and bear the lov'd spirit to heaven.
Oh! then to my charge be it given,
To comfort with hope, watch the last fleeting breath,
Catch, and bear the lov'd spirit to heaven.
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