TO A LADY.1834.
What sweetness, gentleness, what love
In that calm face appears,
And lofty thought, that soars above
This darksome vale of tears!
In that calm face appears,
And lofty thought, that soars above
This darksome vale of tears!
On thy blest soul, refined and pure,
What heavenly beauties rise!
And, with sublime attraction, lure
Thy spirit to the skies.
What heavenly beauties rise!
And, with sublime attraction, lure
Thy spirit to the skies.
O blessed friend, supremely blest,—
What sacred joys are thine,
Of nature's noblest gifts possessed
And crowned with grace divine!
What sacred joys are thine,
Of nature's noblest gifts possessed
And crowned with grace divine!
O will that gentle spirit deign
To think on one forlorn,
Whose soul the bitterness of pain
Through hopeless years hath borne?
To think on one forlorn,
Whose soul the bitterness of pain
Through hopeless years hath borne?
O may this stricken child of grief
Still claim thee for a friend?
That thought a balmy, blest relief
With sorrows deep shall blend.
Still claim thee for a friend?
That thought a balmy, blest relief
With sorrows deep shall blend.
Thy sympathizing accents oft,
In the lone hours of night,
I seem again to hear, and soft
On the worn sense they light.
In the lone hours of night,
I seem again to hear, and soft
On the worn sense they light.
Thy pitying tenderness relieves
My sorrowing heart e'en now,
When gentle sleep in anguish leaves
My thought-distended brow.
My sorrowing heart e'en now,
When gentle sleep in anguish leaves
My thought-distended brow.
But ne'er can this tried soul reveal,
Till life's sad course be run,
The bitterness, the woes I feel:—
Yet all is known to One.
Till life's sad course be run,
The bitterness, the woes I feel:—
Yet all is known to One.
Yes, and in His appointed hour
He will each grief remove:
Oh may I trust His sovereign power,
And His sustaining love.
He will each grief remove:
Oh may I trust His sovereign power,
And His sustaining love.
And may'st thou ever still be blest,—
And still those powers employ,
To give the wearied spirit rest,
And guide to future joy.
And still those powers employ,
To give the wearied spirit rest,
And guide to future joy.
O may thy earthly course be peace,—
Life's purer joys be thine,
Till its last flickering pulse shall cease,
In ecstasy divine.
Life's purer joys be thine,
Till its last flickering pulse shall cease,
In ecstasy divine.
Then will thy ransomed spirit rise
To glorious realms above,
And gain its mansion in the skies,
Rapt in redeeming love.
To glorious realms above,
And gain its mansion in the skies,
Rapt in redeeming love.