 | Songs of Doubt and Dream (Poems) |  |
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VI.—To E. N. C.
(Died at Oxford, England, January 4, 1875.)
I knew thee not amid those sunnier times
When wealth and homage waited thy command,
When youth and flattery mixed their festal chimes,
And life went singing lightly, lute in hand.
I knew thee only when thy soul was sore
From bitter loss and tired with earthly din,
And when thou stoodst upon a twilight shore
To watch the wrecks of hopes come drifting in.
When wealth and homage waited thy command,
When youth and flattery mixed their festal chimes,
And life went singing lightly, lute in hand.
I knew thee only when thy soul was sore
From bitter loss and tired with earthly din,
And when thou stoodst upon a twilight shore
To watch the wrecks of hopes come drifting in.
And oh, 'twas sweeter to have known thee thus!
Through sundering years thy picture still to praise,
Dear as the echoing of some angelus
Whose music floats from unforgotten days!
To have seen thy placid fortitude, and how,
The wearier that thy wounded spirit grew,
As many a one wears halcyon roses, thou
Didst wear thy sad rosemary and thy rue!
Through sundering years thy picture still to praise,
Dear as the echoing of some angelus
Whose music floats from unforgotten days!
To have seen thy placid fortitude, and how,
The wearier that thy wounded spirit grew,
As many a one wears halcyon roses, thou
Didst wear thy sad rosemary and thy rue!
To call thee friend was far more precious gain
Than half the accomplished aims of men's desire,
Patient where others would have moaned for pain,
Gentle where others would have flushed with ire;
Tender in charities to all thy race,
Mild, courteous, kindly, sympathetic, good,
Dowered with culture's most alluring grace,
And matchless in devoted motherhood!
Than half the accomplished aims of men's desire,
Patient where others would have moaned for pain,
Gentle where others would have flushed with ire;
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Mild, courteous, kindly, sympathetic, good,
Dowered with culture's most alluring grace,
And matchless in devoted motherhood!
For me, when others mocked my distant goal
As shadowy fancy of an idle boy,
Thy counsellings fell sweet upon my soul,
Like holiest benedictions, bringing joy;
And thine the inspiring word that gave me heart
To watch with gaze more steadfast and more strong,
Far in the blue unsullied heaven of art
The elusive and upwavering wings of song!
As shadowy fancy of an idle boy,
Thy counsellings fell sweet upon my soul,
Like holiest benedictions, bringing joy;
And thine the inspiring word that gave me heart
To watch with gaze more steadfast and more strong,
Far in the blue unsullied heaven of art
The elusive and upwavering wings of song!
So now, o'er wastes of alienating sea
I make my farewell as a bird to fly,
And eastward wandering, pause at last by thee,
To linger near thy grave, but not to die.
For if the summer's mellowing smile shall set
A single flower above thy sleep, I trust
Downward through this to thrill with my regret
The dumbness of thine irresponsive dust!
I make my farewell as a bird to fly,
And eastward wandering, pause at last by thee,
To linger near thy grave, but not to die.
For if the summer's mellowing smile shall set
A single flower above thy sleep, I trust
Downward through this to thrill with my regret
The dumbness of thine irresponsive dust!
| Songs of Doubt and Dream (Poems) | |