 | The poetical works of William H. C. Hosmer |  |
253
IMPROMPTU.
WRITTEN AFTER A STROLL AMONG TOMBS.
I wandered round the grave-yard
When dews were falling fast,
And clouds, with darkness banner'd,
The wan moon overcast;
Below me far the city
Sent up its roofs and spires,
No longer giving back the gleam
Of sunset's reddening fires.
When dews were falling fast,
And clouds, with darkness banner'd,
The wan moon overcast;
Below me far the city
Sent up its roofs and spires,
No longer giving back the gleam
Of sunset's reddening fires.
Memorials of love and death
On every side were seen,
And snow-white palings graced the yard
That kept each hillock green—
But in the fast-departing light
I vainly strove to find
The dust-couch of the pure in heart—
The beautiful of mind!
On every side were seen,
And snow-white palings graced the yard
That kept each hillock green—
But in the fast-departing light
I vainly strove to find
The dust-couch of the pure in heart—
The beautiful of mind!
It mattered not!—for near me there
In spirit walked the dead,
And calmness, never felt before,
My heart's wild sea o'erspread—
I heard her voice of lute-like thrill
With evening's wind go by—
Once more—once more upon me shone
Her sweet love-lighted eye!
In spirit walked the dead,
And calmness, never felt before,
My heart's wild sea o'erspread—
I heard her voice of lute-like thrill
With evening's wind go by—
Once more—once more upon me shone
Her sweet love-lighted eye!
254
Oh! land of shade and silence,
Though chill thy valleys be,
Sometimes a voice from out thy depths
Comes back to comfort me—
A sign that beauty's faded rose
Will bud and bloom again—
And golden links in Heaven unite
That break on earth in twain.
Though chill thy valleys be,
Sometimes a voice from out thy depths
Comes back to comfort me—
A sign that beauty's faded rose
Will bud and bloom again—
And golden links in Heaven unite
That break on earth in twain.
| The poetical works of William H. C. Hosmer | |