Poems of Felicia Hemans in The Christian Examiner and Theological Review Vol IV 1827/To the Memory of a Friend and Relative

by Felicia Hemans

TO THE MEMORY OF A FRIEND AND RELATIVE.

BY MRS HEMANS.

[From the Manuscript.]

'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.'

We miss thy voice while early flowers are blowing,
    And the first flush of blossom clothes each bough,
And the spring sunshine round our home is glowing,
    Soft as thy smile—thou shouldst be with us now!

With us!—we wrong thee by the earthly thought—
    Could our fond gaze but follow where thou art,
Well might the glories of this world seem nought
    To the one promise given the pure in heart.

Yet wert thou blest e'en here—oh! ever blest
    In thine own sunny thoughts and tranquil faith;—
The silent joy that still o'erflowed thy breast,
    Needed but guarding from all change, by death.

So is it sealed to peace!—on thy clear brow
    Never was care one fleeting shade to cast,
And thy calm days in brightness were to flow,
    A holy stream, untroubled to the last!

Farewell! thy life hath left surviving love
    A wealth of records and sweet 'feelings given,’
From sorrow's heart the faintness to remove,
    By whispers breathing 'less of earth than heaven.'*^[1]

Thus rests thy spirit still on those with whom
    Thy step the paths of joyous duty trod,
Bidding them make an altar of thy tomb,
    Where chastened thought may offer praise to God!

1. *Alluding to the lines she herself quoted, from the Lady of the Lake, but an hour before her death—

   'Some feelings are to mortals given
   With less of earth in them than heaven'—
   

   'and these,' she said, 'I feel now!'