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THE SIBERIAN EXILE.
Whene'er the source that feeds, becometh dry;
But life will linger on deprived of all!
The heart is too long breaking!—when the love
That gathers strength with each succeeding year,
And learns to cling to others as its life,
Is torn from out the heart—it too should die,
Nor thus creep on, counting the weary steps
Unto the grave!
Oh! it is sad to think
That one whose youth gave out such promises,
Of stainless courage and untarnished worth;
Whose manhood sealed them with the seal of truth,
Should thus,, for half a century, wear out
His life in vain repinings, in a bleak
And cheerless land, where none but strangers' hands
May place the frozen earth above his head,
When his last breath is drawn, and his last prayer
Ascends for shattered Poland!
Weep for him!
Weep for the heart whence noble sentiments
Sprang up unconsciously, like the green tree
Upon the mountain-summit; strong in strength,
And pure in motive, heavenward in their growth,
Giving encouragement to the high of soul,
And shelter to the humble. Weep that he,
But life will linger on deprived of all!
The heart is too long breaking!—when the love
That gathers strength with each succeeding year,
And learns to cling to others as its life,
Is torn from out the heart—it too should die,
Nor thus creep on, counting the weary steps
Unto the grave!
Oh! it is sad to think
That one whose youth gave out such promises,
Of stainless courage and untarnished worth;
Whose manhood sealed them with the seal of truth,
Should thus,, for half a century, wear out
His life in vain repinings, in a bleak
And cheerless land, where none but strangers' hands
May place the frozen earth above his head,
When his last breath is drawn, and his last prayer
Ascends for shattered Poland!
Weep for him!
Weep for the heart whence noble sentiments
Sprang up unconsciously, like the green tree
Upon the mountain-summit; strong in strength,
And pure in motive, heavenward in their growth,
Giving encouragement to the high of soul,
And shelter to the humble. Weep that he,
