Madmoments: or First Verseattempts :: :: University of Virginia Library

Why sitt'st thou on that old gravestone,
Thou grayhaired Man of many Years?
Speaks it, like thee, of things bygone,
Why melt thy dim, old Eyes to tears?

2

Thereat the oldman tremblingly
Raised up his timebowed face of pain,
First cast a wistful glance at me,
Then bent it on the stone again.

3

Oh 'twas a sad, sad sight, to see
That poor oldman, forlorn and lone,
Like a stormscathed and leafless tree,
With all its Autumnfruitage strown.

4

Of the Churchyard he seemed a part,
So silent, old, so still and grey,
Sitting like Time, without his dart,
And mourning over Life's decay.

5

Then traced he, with Grief's finger slow,
A name which he had cleaned of late
From rank, oblivious weeds, that grow
'Till all we love be out of date.

6

Each Letter seemed to stab his heart!
Tho' from the tombs of those who sleep
Time may efface their names, his art
But graves them in the heart more deep.

7

When the oldman had traced the name,
He gazed into my face and said,
—She was the last of all—they came
Like springflowers, and are now all dead!

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8

And yet I live, tho' old and gray,
Mourning for those should cherish me.
Thereat he bent him down, and lay
Lost in his own deep agony.

9

Alas! when from the Tree of life
Th' unopened Buds fall first to Earth,
Time steals the best sweets of Love's hive,
And what he leaves are little worth.

10

Such tears are holy, shed by one
Who suffers thus chastised by Heaven,
Swifter than prayers their way is won,
And pardon for their sake is given.

11

And when those natural drops were shed,
The oldman rose from off the stone,
And then his tottering steps I led
Down the Yardpath his Daywalk grown.

12

When to the Churchyardgate we came,
He turned with lingering step once more,
For the Towerbell had chimed, the same
That speaketh with the voice of yore.

13

Thereon he heaved a deepdrawn sigh,
And passed his Hand athwart his Face,
«Heaven's will be done» he said, for I
Am a poor sinner, needing grace!

14

Then as we left the Church behind,
And objects varied as we moved,
The scene induced a calmer mind,
The oldman talked of those he loved.

15

I was a happy Man indeed,
The father of five goodly Boys,
And one sweet Girl, who in my need
A ministering Angel was;

16

My Wife died first, and one by one,
My goodly boys were torn away,
Once scathed the stem, the fruit thereon
Sank with it, ere my head was grey.

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17

Yet still my dear, dear girl was left;
In us the spirits of the rest
Seem'd blent in one, and tho' bereft
I felt I was not allunblest.

18

But Heaven was pleased still more to try
My fortitude, and lest I should
Forget that nobler Bourne on high,
Chastised me unto mine own good.

19

There is a fitter place of meeting
For spirits severed here below,
To teach me what I was forgetting,
My girl was soon snatched from me too.

20

Oh stranger, hast thou ever known
What 'tis to be alone on Earth,
Having been loved? thy homehearts strown,
And by their absence feel their worth?

21

My girl, she had such winning ways,
I half forgot in her the rest,
She was to my old eyes like rays
Of light, each loved the other best.

22

Oh had you heard her softtoned voice,
Or seen her seek my Bedroomdoor
With tiptoe caution, lest the noise
Should break my rest, and list an hour!

23

And if she saw me hide my Tears,
She'd kiss me, then point to the skies,
She had a sense beyond her years,
For Love perfects the faculties!

24

Then she would read the Biblepage,
On some calm, quiet Sabbatheve,
She seemed an angel sent to 'suage,
With words of promise, those who grieve.

25

But she is in her grave, and I
Am here, a lone oldman, of Years
And Sorrows full; but Misery
Shall turn to Smiles, tho' born in Tears!

182

26

The Oldman's simple tale was done!
And we had reached his cottagedoor,
Where a wild Eglantine had spun
Its thriftless tendrils, pruned no more.

27

The old Man looked, and shook his head,
His grey hairs stirrëd in the wind,
«It used not to be so, he said,
Time has left naught to mourn behind.»

28

They are but emblems of what's gone,
Of what has faded from the Earth:
Of all that's noble, no not one
But has in Heaven a second birth.

29

And with these words the oldman turned,
And prophetlike his features glowed,
A holier spirit thro' them burned,
And thro' the Man th' Immortal showed.

30

If of an oldman's blessing thou
Disdainest not the humble gift,
'Tis thine, and when this frame lies low,
Some thoughts of me thy soul may lift.

31

Tho' baffled oft on this cold Earth,
The Love we bear our household-hearts,
Hath its fulfilment, and imparts
E'en by its Anguish higher Worth.

32

The oldman's blessing and his words
Sank thro' my heart, like fresh'ning dew,
And as I turned away, the birds
Their strains seem'd blither to renew.

33

Oft have I passed the oldman's cot
In Afteryears, and other Mood,
And soothed my own with his sad Lot,
And learnt in evil to know good.

34

There is a wisdom which doth bow,
Heartwisdom, born of sufferings,
That wound the Heart, therein to sow
The seeds of future blessings.

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35

And there are tears which those who weep
Are holy in Godssight above
The vain Lipworshippers, who keep
The Letter, but from Fear, not Love.

36

Where Love is not, there is no Law,
A Law unto himself He is:
Instead of Law, fulfilling Law,
And in fulfilling finds His bliss.

37

There's Wisdom in simplicity,
And dignity in lowliness,
And to be last is still to be
Great in our very littleness.

38

And Joys there are in misery,
That happiness has never known,
A Service which is Liberty,
And visions but to virtue shown.

39

Then let our eyes be dimmed with tears,
Our hearts be purified by pain,
Faith still can bear the weight of years,
And make Mortality a Gain!