" 'A sorrowful book I am reading, dear
A book of weeping, and pain, and fear
A book deep printed on my heart,
Which I cannot read but the tears will start.
" 'That breeze to my ear was soft and mild,
Just so, when I was a little child;
But now I hear in its freshening breath
The voices of those that sleep in death.'
" 'Mamma,' said the child, with shaded brow,
What is this book you are reading now?
And why do you read what makes you cry?'
'My child, it comes up before my eye;
" ' 'Tis the memory, love, of a far-off day,
When my life's best friend was taken away;
Of the weeks and months that my eyes were dim,
Watching for tidings watching for him.
" 'Many a year has come and pass'd
Since a ship sailed over the ocean fast,
Bound for a port on England's shore
She sail'd but was never heard of more.'
" 'Mamma' and she closer press'd her side
'Was that the time when my father died?
Is it his ship you think you see?
Dearest mamma wont you speak to me?'
"The lady paused, but then calmly said
Yes, Lucy the sea was his dying bed!
And now, whenever I hear the blast,
I think again of that storm long past.
" 'The winds' fierce howlings hurt not me,
But I think how they beat on the pathless sea
Of the breaking mast of the parting rope
Of the anxious strife, and the failing hope.'
" 'Mamma,' said the child, with streaming eyes,
My father has gone above the skies;
And you tell me this world is mean and base
Compared with heaven that blessed place.'
" 'My daughter, I know I believe it all
I would not his spirit to earth recal.
The bless'd one he his storm was brief
Mine, a long tempest of tears and grief.