Excerpt
A LAMENT "The parted spirit,Knoweth it not our sorrow? Answereth notIts blessing to our tears?"The circle is broken, one seat is forsaken,One bud from the tree of our friendship is shaken;One heart from among us no longer shall thrillWith joy in our gladness, or grief in our ill.Weep! lonely and lowly are slumbering nowThe light of her glances, the pride of her brow;Weep! sadly and long shall we listen in vainTo hear the soft tones of her welcome again.Give our tears to the dead! For humanity's claimFrom its silence and darkness is ever the same;The hope of that world whose existence is blissMay not stifle the tears of the mourners of this.For, oh! if one glance the freed spirit can throwOn the scene of its troubled probation below,Than the pride of the marble, the pomp of the dead,To that glance will be dearer the tears which we shed.Oh, who can forget the mild light of her smile,Over lips moved with music and feeling the while,The eye's deep enchantment, dark, dream-like, and clear,In the glow of its gladness, the shade of its tear.And the charm of her features, while over the wholePlayed the hues of the heart and the sunshine of soul;And the tones of her voice, like the music which seemsMurmured low in our ears by the Angel of dreams!But holier and dearer our memories holdThose treasures of feeling, more precious than gold,The love and the kindness and pity which gaveFresh flowers for the bridal, green wreaths for the grave!The heart ever open to Charity's claim,Unmoved from its purpose by censure and blame,While vainly alike on her eye and her earFell the scorn of the heartless, the jesting and jeer.How true to our hearts was that beautiful sleeperWith smiles for the joyful, with tears for the weeper,Yet, evermore prompt, whether mournful or gay,With warnings in love to the passing astray.For, though spotless herself, she could sorrow for themWho sullied with evil the spirit's pure gem;And a sigh or a tear could the erring reprove,And the sting of reproof was still tempered by love.As a cloud of the sunset, slow melting in heaven,As a star that is lost when the daylight is given,As a glad dream of slumber, which wakens in bliss,She hath passed to the world of the holy from this.1834. TO THE MEMORY OF CHARLES B. STORRS,
Late President of Western Reserve College, who died at his post of duty, overworn by his strenuous labors with tongue and pen in the cause of Human Freedom.
Thou hast fallen in thine armor,Thou martyr of the LordWith thy last breath crying "Onward!"And thy hand upon the sword.The haughty heart derideth,And the sinful lip reviles,But the blessing of the perishingAround thy pillow smiles!When to our cup of tremblingThe added drop is given,And the long-suspended thunderFalls terribly from Heaven,—When a new and fearful freedomIs proffered of the LordTo the slow-consuming Famine,The Pestilence and Sword!When the refuges of FalsehoodShall be swept away in wrath,And the temple shall be shaken,With its idol, to the earth,Shall not thy words of warningBe all remembered then...?