Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

Those cold white curtain-folds displace—
That form I would no longer see:
They have assumed my husband's face,
And all night long it looked at me.
I wished it not to go away,
Yet trembled while it did remain;
I closed my eyes, and tried to pray—
Alas! I tried in vain.

II

I know my head is very weak;
I've seen what fancy can create;
I long have felt too low to speak:
Oh! I have thought too much of late!
I have a few requests to make—
Just wipe these blinding tears away—
I know your love, and for my sake
You will them all obey.

III

My child has scarce a month been dead,
My husband has been dead but five;
What dreary hours since that have fled!
I wonder I am yet alive.
My child, through him Death aimed the blow,
And from that hour I did decline;
His coffin, when my head lies low,
I would have placed on mine.

IV

Those letters which my husband sent
Before he perished in the deep,—
What hours in reading them I've spent!
Whole nights, in which I could not sleep.
Oh! they are worn with many a tear,
Scarce fit for other eyes to see,
But oft, when sad, they did me cheer:
Pray, bury them with me.

V

This little cap my Henry wore
The very day before he died;
And I shall never kiss it more—
When dead, you'll place it by my side.
I know these thoughts are weak, but, oh!
What will a vacant heart not crave?
And, as none else can love them so,
I'll bear them to my grave.

VI

The miniature that I still wear,
When dead, I would not have removed:
'Tis on my heart—oh! leave it there,
To find its way to where I loved!
My husband threw it round my neck,
Long, long before he called me bride;
And I was told, amidst the wreck,
He kissed mine ere he died.

VII

There's little that I care for now,
Except this simple wedding-ring:
I faithfully have kept my vow,
And feel not an accusing sting.
I never yet have laid it by
A moment, since my bridal day;
Where he first placed it let it lie—
Oh take it not away!

VIII

Now wrap me in my wedding-gown,—
You scarce can think how cold I feel,—
And smooth my ruffled pillow down.
Oh! how my clouded senses reel!
Great God! support me to the last!—
Oh, let more air into the room—
The struggle now is nearly past—
Husband and child, I come!