 | The Two Brothers, and other poems |  |
154
ON SEEING A LEAF FALL BY MOONLIGHT.
I
Oh, bright was the hour when thou wast born,And the winds sang peace to the blushing morn,
Who stepp'd o'er the clouds at their matin call:
But ne'er may the memory of days gone by
Save the victim of death when his hour is nigh;
And vain was the warmth of thy natal sky;
The moonlight saw thee fall.
II
Thy youth it was spent in dance and glee,With thy leaflet brothers embowering thee,
Happiness trembling o'er one and all:
155
And our comrades, ah, tell me, where are they?
Links are broken to-morrow, though twined to-day;
The moonlight saw thee fall.
III
Thou hast stood the cloud and the dashing rain,Over thee the chill blast hath swept in vain,
And the night vainly spread her funeral pall:
But a word may crush when the heart doth ache,
And it needs not then a storm ere it break;
Thou hast stood the tempest, when strong hearts quake,
But the moonlight saw thee fall.
Watton, 1844.
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