 | Later Lays and Lyrics |  |
A REMEMBRANCE.
I.
The grapes hang blue upon the frame,The peach is blushing on the bough;
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Has tipped the western mountain's brow;
September wears the look he wore
When sorely were my heart-strings tried—
When gloom was thrown the landscape o'er,
And Bessie died.
II.
The sad gray years are thrust betweenThe poet and that mournful hour
When in her loveliness was seen
My darling dead in home's sweet bower;
But fresh in my remembrance still,
Though sons have fallen at my side,
Is that dark hour of gloom and ill
When Bessie died.
III.
She was a child of softest bloom,Too fair for this dark land of shade,
And through the portals of the tomb
She passed in angel-robes arrayed.
Like bright September's sun-set cloud
Her rounded cheek and lips were dyed;
For me no terror hath the shroud
Since Bessie died.
IV.
Ere closed her second year I heardThe summons of the Mower, death,
And hushed was home's bright singing bird
When drawn was her last fluttering breath.
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But she expired ere eventide;
I lost all trust in mortal bliss
When Bessie died.
V.
Since that dread hour a noble boyHas in the battle's front been slain;
Another, full of hope and joy,
Drowned, never to revive again;
But darkest was that hour of woe,
Most sorely was the poet tried
When, like a wreath of melting snow,
His Bessie died.
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