Poems (Eckley)/The Orphans

by Sophia May Eckley

THE ORPHANS.

HAD a dream last night, Maggie,
 I dreamt that you and I
Were crossing o'er the dreary moor,
 No moon was in the sky.

The snow beat in our faces, Maggie,
 It was so shivering cold,
I clung to you more closely, Dear,
 And then I grew more bold.

And as we passed the churchyard, Maggie,
 I dreamt I heard you say—
"Stoop, little sister, kiss the stone
 That hides our dead away."

I stoop'd, I knelt, but Maggie dear,
 'Twas not the stone I kist,
But 'twas our mother's face looked up
 So heavenly through the mist.

And then the moor a garden seemed,
 The snow in flowers fell;
There was no moon,—but perfect day
 Shone on our pathway still.

Again you turned and said, Maggie,
 Look, little sister, look,
Far, far across the dreary moor,
 The poplars and the brook."

Mine eyes were wet with tears, Maggie,
 Though beautiful it seemed,
I could not see all you discerned,
 Alas! I only dreamed.

"The moor is cold and bleak, Maggie,
 No moon is in the sky,
We are sitting at our mother's grave,
 And wishing we might die,

To get across life's dreary moor,
 That angel face to kiss;
O! 'tis very bard. to live, Maggie,
 After a dream like this!

Chamounix, 1861.