 | Poems by Elizabeth Akers (Florence Percy) |  |
141
CONSOLATION.
Now leave, O leave me! I have stayed to hear
All the vain comfortings your lips have said,—
Well meant, but yet they fall upon my ear
As yellow leaves might whirl about my head;—
Now leave me with my dead.
All the vain comfortings your lips have said,—
Well meant, but yet they fall upon my ear
As yellow leaves might whirl about my head;—
Now leave me with my dead.
I would not be ungrateful, friends; but still
Your kind, condoling voices trouble me:
This aching need, which words can never fill,
Rejects your proffered comfort utterly,
As husks and vanity.
Your kind, condoling voices trouble me:
This aching need, which words can never fill,
Rejects your proffered comfort utterly,
As husks and vanity.
They are unwise physicians who would bind
A bleeding wound, and pour in wine and oil,
While yet the arrow-head remains behind;—
This stab, whence yet the ruddy life-drops boil,
Mocks your unskilful toil.
A bleeding wound, and pour in wine and oil,
While yet the arrow-head remains behind;—
This stab, whence yet the ruddy life-drops boil,
Mocks your unskilful toil.
142
You tell me that to him I mourn is given
Such bliss as makes this world seem poor and dim;—
Is there an angel in the whole of heaven,
In all the shining ranks of seraphim,
Can take my place to him?
Such bliss as makes this world seem poor and dim;—
Is there an angel in the whole of heaven,
In all the shining ranks of seraphim,
Can take my place to him?
Can he be happy while I grieve and pine?
Can he rejoice, and I in misery?
Then he is changed, and is no longer mine;
For he so loved me, that he could not be
Content away from me.
Can he rejoice, and I in misery?
Then he is changed, and is no longer mine;
For he so loved me, that he could not be
Content away from me.
And yet you say he dwells in joy and peace,
Far from this dim and sorrowful estate,
And, when my earthly wanderings shall cease,
Will come and meet me at life's outer gate:
“Be strong,” you say, “and wait.”
Far from this dim and sorrowful estate,
And, when my earthly wanderings shall cease,
Will come and meet me at life's outer gate:
“Be strong,” you say, “and wait.”
Would that I were like Stephen, and could see,
What time the cruel stones bruise out my soul,
The opening heavens, and angels waiting me!
Alas! I hear no homeward chariot-roll,
No welcome to the goal.
What time the cruel stones bruise out my soul,
The opening heavens, and angels waiting me!
Alas! I hear no homeward chariot-roll,
No welcome to the goal.
143
Ah me! the red is yet upon my cheek,
And in my veins life's vigorous currents play;
Adown my hair there shines no warning streak,
And the sweet meeting which you paint to-day
Seems sadly far away.
And in my veins life's vigorous currents play;
Adown my hair there shines no warning streak,
And the sweet meeting which you paint to-day
Seems sadly far away.
Another tells me that he loves me still,—
Sees, hears, and guides me through life's hurrying throng,
While I, despite my yearning sense and will,
Am blind and deaf, and do his deep love wrong,
By weeping all day long.
Sees, hears, and guides me through life's hurrying throng,
While I, despite my yearning sense and will,
Am blind and deaf, and do his deep love wrong,
By weeping all day long.
What does it comfort me, if still he walks
Beside me all the while, invisibly?
What does it help me, that a dear ghost mocks
Blind eyes with unseen smiles? I fail to see
What comfort it may be.
Beside me all the while, invisibly?
What does it help me, that a dear ghost mocks
Blind eyes with unseen smiles? I fail to see
What comfort it may be.
There is no balm. Though he may dwell in bliss,
I sit in grief. It is the loss, the lack,
The absence, and the utter emptiness
Which kill me. Comfort?—Find the grave-ward track
And bring my darling back!
I sit in grief. It is the loss, the lack,
The absence, and the utter emptiness
Which kill me. Comfort?—Find the grave-ward track
And bring my darling back!
| Poems by Elizabeth Akers (Florence Percy) | |