[Poems by Wilde in] Richard Henry Wilde His Life and Selected Poems |
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[My Sister! through how many trying scenes] |
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 | [Poems by Wilde in] Richard Henry Wilde |  |
[My Sister! through how many trying scenes]
My Sister! through how many trying scenes
We two have past in long long years gone by,
Even yet though half a life time intervenes
I cannot think of them without a sigh.
We two have past in long long years gone by,
Even yet though half a life time intervenes
I cannot think of them without a sigh.
Since thine unconscious infant lips were prest
First by a brother's boyish, bashful kiss,
'Till now when he, life-weary longs for rest,
And even thy hopes seek better worlds than this:
First by a brother's boyish, bashful kiss,
'Till now when he, life-weary longs for rest,
And even thy hopes seek better worlds than this:
What has been done and suffered—felt and thought
In this long, dismal, dark abyss of life,
Where troubled spirits toil on, overwrought,
Amid temptation, sorrow, sin and strife.
In this long, dismal, dark abyss of life,
Where troubled spirits toil on, overwrought,
Amid temptation, sorrow, sin and strife.
How many of the loved and mourned have gone
How many joys and hopes of youth have fled—
How few of all the friends who linger on
Replace the lost—the changed—the cold—the dead.
How many joys and hopes of youth have fled—
How few of all the friends who linger on
Replace the lost—the changed—the cold—the dead.
Yet Hope is left! ... One hope—the best—the last—
Though we plod on o'er thorns unto the grave
However long the day, to come—or past—
Our Sun at length will sleep beneath the wave.
Though we plod on o'er thorns unto the grave
However long the day, to come—or past—
Our Sun at length will sleep beneath the wave.
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Forever? ... No! ... The Ave's evening chime
That strikes the traveller's ear as day-light dies
Although it seems to mourn departed Time
Tells too of Life Eternal in the skies!
That strikes the traveller's ear as day-light dies
Although it seems to mourn departed Time
Tells too of Life Eternal in the skies!
The Ave Maria della sera common in Catholic countries. The thought was suggested by the well known lines of Dante:
“Era già l'ora che volge'l disio
A'naviganti, e intenerisce il cuore
Lo di c'han detto a dolci amici addio;
E che lo nuovo peregrin d'amore
Punge se ode squilla di lontana
Che paia 'l giorno pianger, che si muore.”
A'naviganti, e intenerisce il cuore
Lo di c'han detto a dolci amici addio;
E che lo nuovo peregrin d'amore
Punge se ode squilla di lontana
Che paia 'l giorno pianger, che si muore.”
“'Twas now the hour when seamen's fancies dwell
On Home—and in the traveller's heart arise
Sad thoughts of the dear friends he bade farewell:
And Love's fresh-parted pilgrim starts and sighs
Heart-stricken by the distant vesper bell
Which seems as if it mourned the day that dies!”
On Home—and in the traveller's heart arise
Sad thoughts of the dear friends he bade farewell:
And Love's fresh-parted pilgrim starts and sighs
Heart-stricken by the distant vesper bell
Which seems as if it mourned the day that dies!”
| [Poems by Wilde in] Richard Henry Wilde | |