TO ——.
When the bloom on thy cheek shall have faded away,
When thine eye shall be closed in the grave,
Thou shalt dwell in my heart like the last gleam of day.
That purples with twilight the wave.
And if souls are allowed in a happier sphere
To watch o'er the spirits they love,
Be the guardian—the friend that thou wert to me here,
Be my guide—my protector above.
I know thou must die, and the cold earth will hide
The form I shall ever adore;
But in death, as in life, it will still be my pride
Such virtue as thine to deplore.
And, oh! when I gaze in the stillness of night
On those orbs that bespangle the sky,
I will think there thou dwellest an angel of light,
And hearest thy sorrower's sigh.
It will sooth me to feel, though a wilderness grows,
This lone world all unpeopled for me;
That, though drooping and withering, there still is one rose
In this wilderness blossoms for thee.
Though it will not be thine its last blushes to greet,
To weep o'er its bloom to decay;
If worthy such bliss, in a world we shall meet
Where thou'lt chase every dew-drop away.
The following versification was from the pen of a very young, and interesting woman, in reply to the solicitations of her family not to accompany her unfortunate husband into exile.
The lovely author of these lines, whose beauty can only be exceeded by her retiring modesty, is wholly unconscious of their publication, and we well know will blush at celebrity which the accomplishments of her mind, the graces of her person, and the misfortunes of her destiny, have rendered inevitable.
Versification from the book of "Ruth."