The poems of Richard Henry Stoddard complete edition |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
|
[What shall we do when those we love] |
|
|
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
 | The poems of Richard Henry Stoddard |  |
[What shall we do when those we love]
What shall we do when those we love
Are gone to their seraphic rest?
Since we must live, what life is best
Before the clearer eyes above?
Are gone to their seraphic rest?
Since we must live, what life is best
Before the clearer eyes above?
Shall we recall them as they were,
The day, the hour, the dreadful blow
That, dealt in darkness, laid them low,
The coffin and the sepulchre?
The day, the hour, the dreadful blow
That, dealt in darkness, laid them low,
The coffin and the sepulchre?
Or shall we rather (say, we can,)
Be what we used to be of old?
Work, one for love, and one for gold,
The tender woman, worldly man?
Be what we used to be of old?
Work, one for love, and one for gold,
The tender woman, worldly man?
Shall we be jealous if the heart
Lets go a moment of its dead?
Mistrust it, and revile the head,
And say to all but Death, “Depart?”
Lets go a moment of its dead?
Mistrust it, and revile the head,
And say to all but Death, “Depart?”
Or shall we willing be to take
What good we may in common things,
Blue skies, the sea, a bird that sings,
And other hearts that do not break?
What good we may in common things,
Blue skies, the sea, a bird that sings,
And other hearts that do not break?
329
What God approves, methinks, I know
(If aught we do approved can be,)
But since my child was taken from me,
My only pleasure is in woe:
(If aught we do approved can be,)
But since my child was taken from me,
My only pleasure is in woe:
My tortured heart, my frenzied head,
For when, as now, a smile appears,
I would be drowned in endless tears,
Or, happier, with my darling—dead!
For when, as now, a smile appears,
I would be drowned in endless tears,
Or, happier, with my darling—dead!
| The poems of Richard Henry Stoddard | |