 | Virginalia ; or, songs of my summer nights |  |
39
ELEGY OF TEARS.
WRITTEN ON HEARING OF THE DEATH OF MY SISTER.
Like the pious pathetical Rachel in Ramah,
Who mourned for her beautiful band!
Oh! pour out your souls to the merciful Tamer
Of the Lions in the Lion-Land!
As she would not be comforted, crying forever,
In life, after death, for the loved, early lost!
Oh! weep for your mother! but smile never, never—
For what have your souls, since her death, now to boast?
Then weep, orphan children! weep! weep!
Who mourned for her beautiful band!
Oh! pour out your souls to the merciful Tamer
Of the Lions in the Lion-Land!
As she would not be comforted, crying forever,
In life, after death, for the loved, early lost!
Oh! weep for your mother! but smile never, never—
For what have your souls, since her death, now to boast?
Then weep, orphan children! weep! weep!
Oh! weep out your hearts for the loss of your mother!
Pour, pour out your souls in one pitiful rain!
For ye never can know, in this wide world, another
So true to your hearts as that mother has been!
Wail aloud, oh! ye orphans! like Zion's sweet daughters,
When they poured out their hearts in such heartmelting tears,
By the willows that wept over Babylon's waters,
That their grief took for pay all eternity's years!
Then weep, orphan children! weep! weep!
Pour, pour out your souls in one pitiful rain!
For ye never can know, in this wide world, another
So true to your hearts as that mother has been!
Wail aloud, oh! ye orphans! like Zion's sweet daughters,
When they poured out their hearts in such heartmelting tears,
By the willows that wept over Babylon's waters,
That their grief took for pay all eternity's years!
Then weep, orphan children! weep! weep!
Like the pitiful wail of that Beautiful Lion
Of Judah, in the forests of Lebanon lone,
When he mourned for the loss of the daughter of Zion,
Who killed all the Prophets of God, one by one;
Let your dark ebon locks, like the limbs of the willow,
Rain down from your brows on her dark narrow bed,
In one stream of despair, as ye kneel by the pillow
Of earth, tear-baptized, newly heaped on the dead!
Then weep, orphan children! weep! weep!
Weep, weep for your mother! weep! weep!
Of Judah, in the forests of Lebanon lone,
When he mourned for the loss of the daughter of Zion,
Who killed all the Prophets of God, one by one;
Let your dark ebon locks, like the limbs of the willow,
Rain down from your brows on her dark narrow bed,
In one stream of despair, as ye kneel by the pillow
Of earth, tear-baptized, newly heaped on the dead!
Then weep, orphan children! weep! weep!
Weep, weep for your mother! weep! weep!
New Haven, Conn., May 20, 1861.
| Virginalia ; or, songs of my summer nights | |