 | [Poems by Whittier in] A Study of Whittier's Apprenticeship as a Poet |  |
MEMORY
“Memory with a spectre's fingers
Scatters torn flowers o'er what hath been.”
Fairfield's Clara
Scatters torn flowers o'er what hath been.”
Fairfield's Clara
Farewell! if this be only
A lightly spoken word,
Why should the heart be lonely
As a mate-forsaken bird!
If its meaning be not deeper
Than its simple sound would seem,
Why should it haunt the sleeper
And mingle in his dream?
A lightly spoken word,
Why should the heart be lonely
As a mate-forsaken bird!
If its meaning be not deeper
Than its simple sound would seem,
Why should it haunt the sleeper
And mingle in his dream?
[OMITTED]
Tearfully we parted,
In the utmost hush of even,
When above the weary-hearted
Looked tearfully the heaven.
And a long farewell was spoken
Which thy heart might not forget,
I have lost full many a token,
But that is living yet.
In the utmost hush of even,
When above the weary-hearted
Looked tearfully the heaven.
And a long farewell was spoken
Which thy heart might not forget,
I have lost full many a token,
But that is living yet.
'Tis a loved page in my story,
A sun-ray in my dream,
Turning to rainbow glory
What else would darkness seem.
Though darkly memory giveth
Its visions of the past,
Yet while that picture liveth,
I would that it might last.
A sun-ray in my dream,
Turning to rainbow glory
What else would darkness seem.
212
Its visions of the past,
Yet while that picture liveth,
I would that it might last.
Stanzas 1, 7, 8 Philadelphia Album, September 9, 1829
| [Poems by Whittier in] A Study of Whittier's Apprenticeship as a Poet | |