The mourning relatives glide, And sorrow sits everywhere.
A soul hath passed away.
Whither! who can say ?
Only he whose name
Is not to be lightly spoken
Only he at whose word
Yon wheel at the well was broken.
Hark! the bell is tolling
With a wailing heart-throb sound
Sadly, gloomily, rolling
Over the dreary ground.
They have closed the old hall-door,
He hath gone his guests before;
Upon an unknown road;
To cross, ah! never more,
The threshold of that abode.
Like sunset over the western sea,
His spirit has sunk in Eternity;
Like sunlight afar o'er the distant main, Fades the spirit to rise again.
"Sua benigna fortuna e'l viver lietro.”
In a large drawing-room
Well toned with well judged colors, we had met: Awaiting, as to me it seemed, the voice
That, trained to modulation soft should say— "Dinner is served," But the silent door
Sprang open and a lady glided in,
Greeting, and greeted by, all warmly save myself;
Who, in the rear, far from the restless flame
That struggled in its cage of polished steel,
Was at the moment bending forehead down
Between two fair haired sisters.
The one who wore
A crimson fillet decked with golden stars
Was younger of the two: in feature queenly,
With royal eyes that for the most part wore
An unobservant look of quietude:
Yet oft, to friends well known, a fleeting glance
Of mirth, sly fun, or mischief, shot askance
Scarce espiègle, toujours sans reproche.
The other's look was difficult to read
As page of classic lore, that has its charm
In being, when so nearly understood,
Or, as a work of art we look upon
Time after time, and try to read the thought
Depicted there, and baffled go again;
And in the puzzle like the picture more
Although denied its meaning.
And yet, when downright mirth made glee of heart, Bright laughter shot from out those sparkling eyes
Like dew drops shook from roses: for at times,
Her cheeks flushed bloom as rich as Love's own rose.
As plays the light in bubbling beads of air,
In filling cup of amethyst held low
Neath the fresh outpour of a crystal spring,
So danced the laughter in her eyes at times.
In calmer moods,
Like halcyon lakes moved by the zephyrs breath,
Where blue rings changes with a silvery light;
Then, half a thought on the beholder's part
Piercing their azure in its search for grey,
Finds only there the shadowings of the blue.
At times, like lucid depths of waveless sea,
Cold silent and inscrutable; and arched
By an expanding broad well pencilled brow;
And for as much as that her classic head,
Dressed in the period's fashion, shadowed forth
A helmet's form, we gave to her the name
GLAUCOPIS.
Had well swung back behind Augusta Mère,
Again it opened, with a dazzling flash
Like moving sunbeams from a mirror thrown ;
And lo! beneath the diamond chandelier,
In the full fulgence of its brilliance, stood
A seraph form! a lovely fair haired child
Of ten sweet jasmine seasons. And the light
Poured, as she stood, into her lustrous hair
Of golden beauty; and illumed her eyes
And robes of floating texture cloudy white;
And dawn tinged cheeks and opening rose bud mouth
While from her satin streamers spoke a gleam
Of moonlight brightness in stalactite cave.
All kindred, or by birth or marriage, there.
In one large fauteuil's depths a grandma, warm
With robings soft of Autumn's mellow hues,
Smiled at a dear sweet pet upon her knee,
A child of twelve months: in dark velvet garb
Edged with some curious quaint old time-stained lace:
A contrast to the other's fleecy folds.
Full in the glow of the redhearted heat-
Chafing behind its bars of polished steel,
Many tongued, panting, flaring out its breath—
The elder child of brightness argentine
Sank down upon the hearth rug, on her knees
And kissed the babe; and seemed to worship it;
And as she knelt her satin'd feet were turned
Sole upwards, close joined pointing in the pile
Of the rug's gorgeous rich wrought flowery sheen.
And she seemed
A little cloud wrapt angel on the floor
Kneeling in adoration of the babe.
Lady Augusta had this only girl;
And being lonely in her widowhood,
Her son then absent with his troop abroad,
Used to have with her as she sat at meals
Her sweet young child for company; and so
We, all proceeding to the dining-room,
Took with us little Pearl.
But soon, ere well the varied entries all
Had made their rounds, the shining little Pearl,
Enthroned by her mamma, slid from the chair
And like a streak of moonlight disappeared;
While darkness seemed to gather round the door.
After the music-we were breaking up,
When Pearl's mamma, in wishing all good night,
Made me well pleased to hear her kindly say
She should be happy, if I thought it well,
With others present, at her house to share
The morrow's luncheon.
So next morn we went
Out for a rambling walk, and scattered wide,
Some one road some another.
I with the Rector strolled down to the beach
And gazed upon the sea of rippling waves;
Where one lone ship was sailing, far away,
Towards the edge of the segmental curve
Whose darkened line divided sky from sea.
In the midst, above, in the full south
The sun was struggling through the smoky clouds
Central towards us. Very wan his beams
Of dull thick yellow, fighting the obscure..
While, from behind the shapes of lurid cloud,
Shot down a streaming flood of wondrous light
Upon the rippling wavelet's silvery points;
Marking a path, between us and the ship,
Along the restless sea, that gleamed and shone
And sparkled with a dazzling glittering light
Of almost blinding brightness. But around
The waves were dark with shades of opal grey;
Dull grey the sky; except where near the sun
The foggy clouds were growing edged with pearl.
And then we thought upon the child, and talked
Of her, as some pure heaven reflected soul
Shining amid the waste of world around:
And how the silvery light upon the sea
Symboled the pathways of the saints in heaven.
Then we turned landward to Augusta's home-
A noble mansion-and we found her there
Awaiting us, and with her was the child
In robe of pink with border of white fur:
Both in a spacious, airy, pleasant room
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