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0 occurrences of TheOldChurchTower
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0 occurrences of TheOldChurchTower
[Clear Hits]

12.

[I saw thee child one summer's day]

I saw thee child one summer's day
Suddenly leave thy cheerful play
And in the green grass lowly lying
I listened to thy mournful sighing
I knew the wish that waked that wail
I knew the source whence sprung those tears
You longed for fate to raise the veil
That darkened over coming years
The anxious prayer was heard and power
Was given me in that silent hour
To open to an infant's eye
The portals of futurity

41

But child of dust the fragrant flowers
The bright blue sky and velvet sod
Were strange conductors to the bowers
Thy daring footsteps must have trod
I watched my time and summer passed
And Autumn waning fleeted by
And doleful winter nights at last
In cloudy mourning clothed the sky
And now I'm come this evening fell
Not stormily but stilly drear
A sound sweeps o'er thee like a knell
To banish joy and welcome care
A fluttering blast that shakes the leaves
And whistles round the gloomy wall
And lingering long lamenting grieves
For 'tis the spectre's call
He hears me what a sudden start
Sent the blood icy to that heart
He wakens and how ghastly white
That face looks in the dim lamplight
Those tiny hands in vain essay
To thrust the shadowy fiend away
There is a horror on his brow
An anguish in his bosom now
A fearful anguish in his eyes
Fixed strainedly on the vacant air
Heavily bursts in long drawn sighs
His panting breath enchained by fear
Poor child if spirits such as I
Could weep o'er human misery
A tear might flow aye many a tear
To see the road that lies before
To see the sunshine disappear
And hear the stormy waters roar
Breaking upon a desolate shore

42

Cut off from hope in early day
From power and glory cut away
But it is doomed and morning's light
Must image forth the scowl of night
And childhood's flower must waste its bloom
Beneath the shadow of the tomb