 | Areytos or songs and ballads of the South |  |
57
ELEGIAC.—DEAR WANDERER.
I.
Dear wanderer from thy boyhood's hearth,To homes that made thee native there,
Thou hadst a blessed gift at birth,
To make thee welcome everywhere!
Alas! that love, who welcomed fond,
Should not possess the power to save;
Denied to keep—all power beyond—
To watch thy couch—to deck thy grave!
II.
'Twere vain to say that thou wast dear,Where truth and love and virtue shone;
More vain, if we could keep thee here,
To say thou hadst not from us gone!
What love, and art, and watch could do,
Were done for thee—alas, in vain!
With sinking hearts, we could but view,
Not soothe, not stay, nor share thy pain!
III.
So calm and placid, sweet and clear,Thine eyes' last gentle meanings shone,
We knew some higher, happier sphere
Had surely claimed thee for its own:
Yet felt those sorrows fill each breast,
That still our selfish loss deplore,
And grieved to see the being bless'd
That ever bless'd our hearts before!
| Areytos or songs and ballads of the South | |