 | Elegies and memorials |  |
“IN MEMORIAM.”
Priest, opening sacred cedar doors
That shrine in dusk a perfect grief,
My secret finds its twin in yours,
And in that twinness its relief.
That shrine in dusk a perfect grief,
My secret finds its twin in yours,
And in that twinness its relief.
For Sorrow, in her mirror here,
Now first perceives, self-gazing thus,
As doth a star in water clear,
Her form, though sad, how luminous.
Now first perceives, self-gazing thus,
As doth a star in water clear,
Her form, though sad, how luminous.
I thank you—love and loss I've felt,
As you, and never word would come;
Till your sweet wand its magic dealt,
I thought this child of tears was dumb.
As you, and never word would come;
Till your sweet wand its magic dealt,
I thought this child of tears was dumb.
39
Once home through winding ways went we;
Warm winds breathed through soft gloom, and night
Lay a dark balmy mystery,
Rifting thin clouds for tremulous light.
Warm winds breathed through soft gloom, and night
Lay a dark balmy mystery,
Rifting thin clouds for tremulous light.
Your book, just bought, was at my home;
I opened it, and read and read,
Till Night had arched her midway dome,
And her noon-stars were overhead.
I opened it, and read and read,
Till Night had arched her midway dome,
And her noon-stars were overhead.
When down I lay, in darkness drowned,
Out of your song my fancy drew
Webs of weird music; round and round
The wizard words self-chasing flew.
Out of your song my fancy drew
Webs of weird music; round and round
The wizard words self-chasing flew.
Whirled breathless after them, I strike
These lines from out my panting brain;
And joy and grief seem all alike,
There's such delirium in the strain.
These lines from out my panting brain;
And joy and grief seem all alike,
There's such delirium in the strain.
Yet, should I tell you how I caught
From you these melodies of tears,
I must lead back my faltering thought
Over a long dusk bridge of years.
From you these melodies of tears,
I must lead back my faltering thought
Over a long dusk bridge of years.
40
An “In Memoriam” in our hearts,
A marble tablet, ever dwells,
For ever dust to dust departs,
For ever ring our funeral bells.
A marble tablet, ever dwells,
For ever dust to dust departs,
For ever ring our funeral bells.
And one sweet ghost—a love and fear—
Haunts, in the thicket's wild rose isles,
The soft green outburst of the year
With voiceless words and wordless smiles.
Haunts, in the thicket's wild rose isles,
The soft green outburst of the year
With voiceless words and wordless smiles.
In my dim silvery dawn of youth
I saw a sister laid to sleep
Amid geraniums of the south—
Oh, can one think and cease to weep?
I saw a sister laid to sleep
Amid geraniums of the south—
Oh, can one think and cease to weep?
She was so young! and yet in her
Death took a too consummate flower;
But it decayed not—and I err,
Mourning her void nook in our bower.
Death took a too consummate flower;
But it decayed not—and I err,
Mourning her void nook in our bower.
Too full of sky-born graces was
That lily life to pine in clay;
Like perfume in a fairy-vase
Her sweet soul burnt itself away.
That lily life to pine in clay;
Like perfume in a fairy-vase
Her sweet soul burnt itself away.
41
I will not speak, I will but think,
Of after-steps in walks of pain,
Walks marked by diamonds, link by link,
Dropped from our happy household chain.
Of after-steps in walks of pain,
Walks marked by diamonds, link by link,
Dropped from our happy household chain.
Nor will I speak nor think of pangs
That must be fled from, lest we craze;
You know the huge dumb cloud that hangs,
Death-dark, o'er our most azure days.
That must be fled from, lest we craze;
You know the huge dumb cloud that hangs,
Death-dark, o'er our most azure days.
You know the wants, the doubts that lie
Wedged in the deep white core of thought,
The yearnings stirred we know not why,
That cry out for we know not what;
Wedged in the deep white core of thought,
The yearnings stirred we know not why,
That cry out for we know not what;
When, 'mid dusk morn, as in a grave
We wake with consciousness aghast,—
The heart that like a hollow cave
Echoes with voices from the past.
We wake with consciousness aghast,—
The heart that like a hollow cave
Echoes with voices from the past.
You know it, and you know the art
That can life's rugged passes smooth;
That, speaking for each voiceless heart,
Sets words that grieve to notes that soothe.
That can life's rugged passes smooth;
That, speaking for each voiceless heart,
Sets words that grieve to notes that soothe.
42
You lead us to the mountain-top
Where the great God who formed our kind
Sees, nor condemns, the tears that drop
From spirits bounded and half-blind.
Where the great God who formed our kind
Sees, nor condemns, the tears that drop
From spirits bounded and half-blind.
He knows, who made us quick with love,
That love must shrink, while walled in clay,
At those sharp blows the walls that move
And strike the soul out to the day.
That love must shrink, while walled in clay,
At those sharp blows the walls that move
And strike the soul out to the day.
Oh, tenderest heart! oh, truest friend!
If thou art sad, as fond and true,
The God that did such sadness send
Send thee all comfort with it too.
If thou art sad, as fond and true,
The God that did such sadness send
Send thee all comfort with it too.
Thus did the heart you kindled write,
Unknowing Love had oped for you
A sudden blossom of delight,
And brought my mystic wishes true.
Unknowing Love had oped for you
A sudden blossom of delight,
And brought my mystic wishes true.
If in your joy's deep psalm allowed,
Half notes akin to sorrow falter,
All thoughts will mingle to a cloud
Of incense on the marriage-altar.
Half notes akin to sorrow falter,
All thoughts will mingle to a cloud
Of incense on the marriage-altar.
43
Nor think your friend from yon sky-land
Scorns your return to earthly ways;
With blessing eyes he sees you stand
A candidate for richer days;
Scorns your return to earthly ways;
With blessing eyes he sees you stand
A candidate for richer days;
Sees in your heart, where seemed a void,
Love's inmost reddest leaf uncurl,
Long shut in grief, but not destroyed,
Just gleaming with a quiet pearl.
Love's inmost reddest leaf uncurl,
Long shut in grief, but not destroyed,
Just gleaming with a quiet pearl.
Love on! and twine all lost desires
About this central shaft of Hope;
Love's fairy round, whence Ill retires
For all the gentle sprites has scope.
About this central shaft of Hope;
Love's fairy round, whence Ill retires
For all the gentle sprites has scope.
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