THE EFFIGIES Woman! whose sculptured form at rest By the armed knight is laid, With meek hands folded o'er a breast What was thy tale !-O gentle mate What bard hath sung of thee? He wooed a bright and burning star- The heart-sick listening while his steed The pang-but when did Fame take heed Of griefs obscure as these? Thy silent and secluded hours Through many a lonely day, While bending o'er thy broidered flowers, Thy weeping midnight prayers for him Thy watchings till the torch grew dim- A still, sad life was thine !-long years Deep, quiet love, submissive tears, Vigils of anxious thought; Prayer at the Cross in fervour poured, Alms to the pilgrim given Oh! happy, happier than thy lord, In that lone path to heaven! 151 THE DEPARTED "Thou shalt lie down With patriarchs of the infant world-with kings I AND shrink ye from the way To the spirit's distant shore?Earth's mightiest men, in armed array, Are thither gone before. The warrior-kings, whose banner Flew far as eagles fly, They are gone where swords avail them not, From the feast of victory. And the seers who sat of yore By Orient palm or wave, They have passed with all their starry lore- Can ye still fear the grave? "We fear! we fear! The sunshine Is joyous to behold, And we reck not of the buried kings, II Ye shrink! The bards whose lays Have made your deep hearts burn They have left the sun and the voice of praise For the land whence none return. THE DEPARTED 153 And the beautiful, whose record Is the verse that cannot die, They too are gone, with their glorious bloom, Would ye not join that throng Of the earth's departed flowers, And the masters of the mighty song, In their far and fadeless bowers? "Those songs are high and holy, But they vanquish not our fear: Not from our path those flowers are gone- III Linger then yet awhile, As the last leaves on the bough There have been sweet singing voices There are seats left void in your earthly homes, Soft eyes are seen no more, That made spring-time in your heart, Kindred and friends are gone before And ye still fear to part! "We fear not now, we fear not! Though the way through darkness bends; Our souls are strong to follow them, Our own familiar friends!" THE PALM-TREE * IT waved not through an eastern sky, It was not fanned by southern breeze But fair the exiled Palm-tree grew Strange looked it there! The willow streamed Where silvery waters near it gleamed; The lime-bough lured the honey-bee To murmur by the Desert's tree, There came an eve of festal hours- *This incident is recorded in De Lille's Les Jardins. THE PALM-TREE But one, a lone one, midst the throng, And slowly, sadly, moved his plumes, To him, to him its rustling spoke- Had something of the sea-wave's moan! His mother's cabin-home, that lay Oh! scorn him not! The strength whereby The unconquerable power which fills The freeman battling on his hills, These have one fountain deep and clear The same whence gushed that childlike tear! 155 |