 | Songs and Poems from 1819 to 1879 |  |
45
ON THE DEATH OF MRS. ---
I stood beside the grave of one whose loveTo me was like a mother's, and my heart
Sunk cold and sick within me as I looked
Upon the flat grey stone which covered her;—
Whose smile was like the morning's earliest beam,
Dispensing joy to all it shone upon.
Death had been busy with me: I had followed
A father to his narrow house—my tears
Still glistened on his grave—but I had watched
Beside his bed of sickness; slow decay
Had whispered warning, and each fainter sigh
Sounded a note of preparation. But
The bloom of health was on her cheek when last
I parted from her, and her eloquent eye
Spoke volumes to the heart. That eye was closed,
That cheek was colourless. It was a change
Instant and awful, like a summer sky
By darkness suddenly defaced. I came,
And she had passed away; all that remained,
Her image in her offspring, and her name—
Her hallowed name upon that flat grey stone.
| Songs and Poems from 1819 to 1879 | |