The Legend of Genevieve :: :: University of Virginia Library

Within a wood I lay reclined,
Upon a dull September day,
And listen'd to the hollow wind,
That shook the frail leaves from the spray.
I thought me of its summer pride,
And how the sod was gemm'd with flowers,
And how the river's azure tide
Was overarch'd with leafy bowers.
And how the small birds caroll'd gay,
And lattice-work the sunshine made,
When last, upon a summer day,
I stray'd beneath that woodland shade.

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II

And now!—it was a startling thought,
And flash'd like lightning o'er the mind,—
That like the leaves we pass to nought,
Nor, parting, leave a track behind!
Go—trace the church-yard's hallow'd mound,
And, as among the tombs ye tread,
Read, on the pedestals around,
Memorials of the vanish'd dead.
They lived like us—they breathed like us—
Like us, they loved, and smiled, and wept;
But soon their hour arriving, thus
From earth like autumn leaves were swept.

III

Who, living, care for them?—not one!
To earth are theirs dissever'd claims;
To new inheritors have gone
Their habitations, and their names!
Think on our childhood—where are they,
The beings that begirt us then?
The Lion Death hath dragg'd away
By turns, the victim to his den!

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And springing round, like vernal flowers,
Another race with vigour burns,
To bloom a while,—for years or hours,—
And then to perish in their turns!

IV

Then be this wintry grove to me
An emblem of our mortal state;
And from each lone and leafless tree,
So wither'd, wild, and desolate,
This moral lesson let me draw,—
That earthly means are vain to fly
Great Nature's universal law,
And that we all must come to die!
However varied, these alone
Abide the lofty and the less,—
Remembrance, and a sculptured stone,
A green grave, and forgetfulness.