Part 18 (2/2)
Oh! I shall part from her with many tears, My earthly treasure, pure and undefiled!
And not without a weight of anxious fears For the new future of my darling child.
And yet--for well I know that virgin heart-- No wifely duty will she leave undone; Nor will her love neglect that woman's art Which courts and keeps a love already won.
In no light girlish levity she goes Unto the altar where they wait her now, But with a thoughtful, prayerful heart that knows The solemn purport of a marriage vow.
And she will keep, with all her soul's deep truth, The lightest pledge which binds her love and life; And she will be--no less in age than youth My n.o.ble child will be--a n.o.ble wife.
And he, her lover! husband! what of him?
Yes, he will s.h.i.+eld, I think, my bud from blight!
Yet griefs will come--enough! my eyes are dim With tears I must not shed--at least, to-night.
Bless thee, my daughter!--Oh! she is so fair!-- Heaven bend above thee with its starriest skies!
And make thee truly all thou dost appear Unto a lover's and thy mother's eyes!
Hymn Sung at an Anniversary of the Asylum of Orphans at Charleston
We scarce, O G.o.d! could lisp thy name, When those who loved us pa.s.sed away, And left us but thy love to claim, With but an infant's strength to pray.
Thou gav'st that Refuge and that Shrine, At which we learn to know thy ways; Father! the fatherless are thine!
Thou wilt not spurn the orphan's praise.
Yet hear a single cry of pain!
Lord! whilst we dream in quiet beds, The summer sun and winter rain Beat still on many homeless heads.
And o'er this weary earth, we know, Young outcasts roam the waste and wave; And little hands are clasped in woe Above some tender mother's grave.
Ye winds! keep every storm aloof, And kiss away the tears they weep!
Ye skies, that make their only roof, Look gently on their houseless sleep!
And thou, O Friend and Father! find A home to s.h.i.+eld their helpless youth!
Dear hearts to love--sweet ties to bind-- And guide and guard them in the truth!
To a Captive Owl
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