I never felt so vile before—
So humbled in mine eyes;
I wondered what you saw to love:
I thought you must despise.
For I was gay, and you were grave,
And I was vain and proud:
You loved the meadow and the grove,
And I the laughing crowd.
I told you frankly of my faults,
You would not hear me through;
You said you were an erring man,
And earthly angels few.
But would I show my better side?
And would I deign to bless?
You held my hand—what could I do?
And so I answered, "Yes."
Do I regret it? Nay, my love,
For were I free as then
The man I chose I still would choose
Before all other men.
And I would say, For life or death,
For happiness or woe,
Where'er you dwell there I will dwell,
Where'er you go, I go.
That was a day, and that a walk
To be remembered long:
It changed the current of my life,
And made each thought a song.
There was a glory in the sky,
A glory on the trees,
And the perfumes of Paradise
Were poured on every breeze.
I scarcely seemed to walk the earth,
My spirit was so light;
'Twas easy then to shun the wrong,
So easy to do right.
New hopes began to bud and bloom
Like blossoms in the spring,—
My heart o'erflowed with tenderness
For every living thing.
I was no more the thoughtless girl
By idle fancy led;
Life seemed to me reality,
And yet I did not dread
To walk along its roughest path:
I should not walk alone,—
Another and a better life
Was blended with mine own.
One blessing more and then, you said
Our joy would be complete;
Your prayer was answered when I sat
At the Redeemer's feet.
And deeper, holier grew our love,—
Our union was to be
Not only for a lifetime here,
But for eternity.
Thus peacefully we passed along
Till that eventful day
When all the labor of our hands
Like chaff was swept away:
We saw our home made desolate,
Our pleasant cottage sold;
Men called us poor, but we were rich
In better things than gold.
For we had lived an honest life;
We could look up and say:
We never wronged a fellow-man,
Nor turned the poor away.
We held a treasure in our arms
Which every care beguiled;
He never sorrowed, never sinned—
For Jesus took the child.
There is a little mound of earth
Where, when the spring appears,
We watch the budding violets,
And water them with tears.
Oh, it were more than earthly love
That soothed a parent's woe
When there we laid our darling down,
Full twenty years ago!