University of Virginia Library

THREE SONNETS.

[I. I walk bewildered in the shadows here]

“I walk bewildered in the shadows here;
Few are the friendly lights along the way;
'Mid doubt, uncertainty and chilling fear,
I strain my eye to catch the dawning day.
There are, upon whose path a broadening ray
Falls from the land to which their loved are gone,
A glorious stair to regions far away,
And angel spirits come and go thereon.
O God, my Father! rend the misty shroud
That overhangs me like the midnight air,
Or let some message from beyond the cloud
Reveal the fate, the life, that waits me there,
O let my faith be knowledge, blindness sight,
This dark uncertainty unclouded light.”

[II. 'Twas thus my friend, in earnest accents said]

'Twas thus my friend, in earnest accents said,
Her gentle bosom heaving with a sigh.
A sudden glow her palid cheeks o'erspread,
A heavenly light came beaming from her eye,
She stretched her feeble hands, and looked on high,
The glow, the light, were brighter than before;
“The morning dawns,” I heard her faintly cry,
And then her bosom rose and fell no more.
The halo and the brightness passed away;
Her hands were still, her lips had ceased to move;
Yet on her wan, unconscious features lay
The sweet, calm smile of perfect peace and love;
God for her spirit rent the misty shroud;
Her faith is changed to sight beyond the cloud.

[III. Friends weep around, believing she is dead]

Friends weep around, believing she is dead.
'Tis but a trance—a syncope—no more.
The soul, the vital part, awhile has fled,
And treads enraptured the celestial floor.
For now a rustling sound is in the room;
Dim shadows pass the threshold and depart;
The light of hope dispels the funeral gloom,
And joy returns to many a sorrowing heart.
For look! her eyelids tremble, and a tear
Glides o'er the enamel of that stainless cheek;
Faint hues of crimson on the lips appear,
That, quivering, part as if about speak.
Her soft eyes open with a cry of pain,
And Dorcas sits among her friends again.