Skip directly to:Main content Main navigation

University of Virginia Library

Poems of Nathaniel Parker Willis .

with a memoir of the author

Willis, Nathaniel Parker (1806-1867)

collapse section

Scriptural Poems.

collapse section

FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT.

HAGAR IN THE WILDERNESS.

THE SACRIFICE OF ABRAHAM.

THE SHUNAMMITE.

JEPHTHAH'S DAUGHTER.

DAVID'S GRIEF FOR HIS CHILD.

RIZPAH WITH HER SONS,

collapse section

(FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT.)

BAPTISM OF CHRIST.

CHRIST'S ENTRANCE INTO JERUSALEM.

THE HEALING OF THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS.

THE WIDOW OF NAIN.

LAZARUS AND MARY.

SCENES IN GETHSEMANE.

collapse section

Religious Poems.

TO MY MOTHER FROM THE APPENINES.

THE MOTHER TO HER CHILD.

ON THE DEATH OF A MISSIONARY.

ON WITNESSING A BAPTISM.

THE BELFRY PIGEON.

DEDICATION HYMN.

THOUGHTS WHILE MAKING THE GRAVE OF A NEW-BORN CHILD.

A THOUGHT OVER A CRADLE.

ON THE PICTURE OF A “CHILD TIRED OF PLAY.”

TO A CITY PIGEON.

A CHILD'S FIRST IMPRESSION OF A STAR.

LINES ON LEAVING EUROPE.

ON THE DEPARTURE OF REV. MR. WHITE FROM HIS PARISH,

A TRUE INCIDENT.

BIRTH-DAY VERSES.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON,

REVERIE AT GLENMARY.

collapse section

THE ELMS OF NEW HAVEN.

THE BURIAL OF THE CHAMPION OF HIS CLASS, AT YALE COLLEGE.

collapse section

[Come out, love—the night is enchanting]

THE WHITE CHIP HAT.

LADY IN THE WHITE DRESS, I HELPED INTO THE OMNIBUS.

TO THE LADY IN THE CHEMISETTE WITH BLACK BUTTONS.

YOU KNOW IF IT WAS YOU.

LOVE IN A COTTAGE.

THE DECLARATION.

collapse section

Miscellaneous Poems.

collapse section

THE SCHOLAR OF THEBET BEN KHORAT.

1.

2.

THE DYING ALCHYMIST.

collapse section

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

THE DEATH OF HARRISON

ANDRE'S REQUEST TO WASHINGTON.

LORD IVON AND HIS DAUGHTER.

THE CONFESSIONAL.

THE PITY OF THE PARK FOUNTAIN.

“CHAMBER SCENE.

THE WIFE'S APPEAL.

TO A STOLEN RING.

TO HER WHO HAS HOPES OF ME.

“SHE WAS NOT THERE.”

FAIL ME NOT THOU!

TO M---, FROM ABROAD.

TO A FACE BELOVED.

BETTER MOMENTS.

SUNRISE THOUGHTS AT THE CLOSE OF A BALL.

UNSEEN SPIRITS.

TO LAURA W---, TWO YEARS OF AGE.

THE SOLDIER'S WIDOW.

ON THE DEATH OF A YOUNG GIRL.

ACROSTIC-SONNET.

TO HELEN IN A HUFF.

ON THE DEATH OF EDWARD PAYSON, D. D.

JANUARY 1, 1828.

ON A PICTURE OF A GIRL LEADING HER BLIND MOTHER THROUGH THE WOOD.

JANUARY 1, 1829.

ON SEEING A BEAUTIFUL BOY AT PLAY.

SPIRIT-WHISPERS.

UPON THE PORTRAIT OF THE HON. MRS. STANHOPE.

collapse section

Collapse All | Expand All expand section

336

THE SOLDIER'S WIDOW.

[_]

[Written for a Picture.]

Wo for mine vine-clad home!
That it should ever be so dark to me,
With its bright threshold, and its whispering tree!
That I should ever come,
Fearing the lonely echo of a tread
Beneath the roof-tree of my glorious dead!

Lead on, my orphan boy!
Thy home is not so desolate to thee—
And the low shiver in the linden tree
May bring to thee a joy;
But oh, how dark is the bright home before thee,
To her who with a joyous spirit bore thee!

Lead on! for thou art now
My sole remaining helper. God hath spoken,
And the strong heart I lean'd upon is broken;
And I have seen his brow—
The forehead of my upright one, and just—
Trod by the hoof of battle in the dust.

He will not meet thee there
Who blest thee at the eventide, my son!

337

And when the shadows of the night steal on,
He will not call to prayer.
The lips that melted, giving thee to God,
Are in the icy keeping of the sod!

Ay, my own boy! thy sire
Is with the sleepers of the valley cast,
And the proud glory of my life hath pass'd
With his high glance of fire.
Wo that the linden and the vine should bloom,
And a just man be gather'd to the tomb!

Why—bear them proudly, boy!
It is the sword he girded to his thigh—
It is the helm he wore in victory—
And shall we have no joy?
For thy green vales, oh Switzerland, he died—
I will forget my sorrow in my pride!