 | Verses of a life time |  |
140
THE RELEASED CONVICT'S CELL,
AT THE PHILADELPHIA PENITENTIARY.
Within the prison's massy walls I stood,
And all was still. Down the far galleried aisles
I gazed—upward and near; no eye was seen,
No footstep heard, save a few flitting guards
Urging with vacant look their daily round;
For in the precincts of each narrow cell,
Hands, busiest once amid licentious crowds,
Voices, that shouted loudest in the throng,
Were now as calm, as erst the winds and waves,
When Jesus said, Be still.
I was led on
To where a convict ten slow years had dwelt
A prison'd man. Released that day, he sought
The world again. Wide open stood his door.
Hard by the cell, (where for brief term each day
He walked alone to feel the blessed breeze
Play on his cheek, or see the sun-beam dawn
Like a fond mother on her erring child,)
There was a little spot of earth, that woke
Within my breast a gush of sudden tears.
His hand had tilled it, and the fresh grass grew
Rewardingly, and springing plants were there,
One knows not how, lifting their gentle heads
In kind companionship to that lone man.
And all was still. Down the far galleried aisles
I gazed—upward and near; no eye was seen,
No footstep heard, save a few flitting guards
Urging with vacant look their daily round;
For in the precincts of each narrow cell,
Hands, busiest once amid licentious crowds,
Voices, that shouted loudest in the throng,
Were now as calm, as erst the winds and waves,
When Jesus said, Be still.
I was led on
To where a convict ten slow years had dwelt
A prison'd man. Released that day, he sought
The world again. Wide open stood his door.
Hard by the cell, (where for brief term each day
He walked alone to feel the blessed breeze
Play on his cheek, or see the sun-beam dawn
Like a fond mother on her erring child,)
141
Within my breast a gush of sudden tears.
His hand had tilled it, and the fresh grass grew
Rewardingly, and springing plants were there,
One knows not how, lifting their gentle heads
In kind companionship to that lone man.
Who can portray how gladly to the eye
Of that past sinner, came in beauty forth
Those springing buds, in nature's lavish love?
Perchance they led him back in healthful thought
To some green spot, where in his early years,
The wild-dower rose, like him unstained and free.
Oh, many a thought swept o'er my busy mind,
And my heart said, God bless thee, erring one,
Now new-born to the world! May heavenly flowers
Spring up and blossom on thy purer way!
Of that past sinner, came in beauty forth
Those springing buds, in nature's lavish love?
Perchance they led him back in healthful thought
To some green spot, where in his early years,
The wild-dower rose, like him unstained and free.
Oh, many a thought swept o'er my busy mind,
And my heart said, God bless thee, erring one,
Now new-born to the world! May heavenly flowers
Spring up and blossom on thy purer way!
A deep, pathetic consciousness I felt
Stirring my soul in that forsaken cell.
It seemed the nest from whence had flown the bird;
Or chrysalis, from whose dark folds had burst
Th' unfettered wing; or grave, from whence the spirit
Wrapt in earth's death-robe long, had sprung in joy.
Stirring my soul in that forsaken cell.
It seemed the nest from whence had flown the bird;
Or chrysalis, from whose dark folds had burst
Th' unfettered wing; or grave, from whence the spirit
Wrapt in earth's death-robe long, had sprung in joy.
Thus be the door of mercy oped for me,
And leaving far the prison-house of sin,
Thus may my spirit range.
And leaving far the prison-house of sin,
Thus may my spirit range.
Philadelphia, June, 1836.
| Verses of a life time | |