MEMORY’S CONSOLATION.
———
BY W. W. HARNEY.
———
When the beauteous rose of morning
Wears her diadem of dew,
And the foot-print of the zephyr
Rests upon the waters blue;
When the moon is softly waning
’Neath the morrow’s ruddy light,
And the cool breath of the morning
Fans the jeweled brow of night;
When the maiden morning blushes,
As it wakens from repose,
And the jealous zephyr brushes
Off the dew kiss from the rose,
Then I watch the starbeams fading,
As the light comes up the sky,
Until with the morn they whisper
That the loved one still is nigh.
When the god of day is shining
As it rides a car of light,
When the glory of the mid-day
Wears a crown of purest white—
When a train of breathing flowers
With their incense load the air,
And the breath from southern valleys
Tell of all things bright and fair;
When the snowy clouds are floating
In the summer’s sunny sheen,
And the splendor of the mid-day
Adds a glory to the scene—
Then I wander sad and lonely
’Mid the beautiful and fair,
For my soul is still with Mary,
And I feel her spirit there.
When the gentle hour of evening
Wears her robe of blue and gold,
And the castles, plains and valleys
Are in airy clouds unrolled;
When the night-birds trim their plumage,
And the flowers meet the dew—
When the moonbeam greets the sunset
In her home of crimson hue—
When the sunset and the moonlight
Are commingled into one,
Like to molten gold and crimson,
When the gorgeous day is done—
Then I think ’t is heaven’s portals
Brightly glowing in the west,
And my lost one seems to beckon
To the regions of the blest.
When the cold and fearful midnight
Wears her coronet of jet,
And a jeweled veil of darkness
Round the form of earth has met—
Or the frowning clouds are tossing
The disheveled hair of night,
And the angry lightning flashes
With a fitful, fearful light—
When the night is dark and stormy
As the passions of the soul,
And the knell of fleeted glories
Echoes in the thunder’s roll;
When the lurid lightning flashes
With its angry light above,
It is naught I see beyond it
To my lost, my early love.