Zinzendorff and Other Poems/Death of a Wife during the Absence of her Husband

Zinzendorff and Other Poems (1836)
by Lydia Huntley Sigourney
Death of a Wife during the Absence of her Husband
4044341Zinzendorff and Other PoemsDeath of a Wife during the Absence of her Husband1836Lydia Huntley Sigourney


DEATH OF A WIFE DURING THE ABSENCE OF HER HUSBAND.


The Man of God, from distant toil
    To his sweet home drew nigh,
And kindling expectation rose
    With brightness to his eye,—
But She, the sharer of his joy,
    The solace of his care,—
Whose smile of welcome, woke his soul
    To rapture, was not there.


He entered and his darling boys
    Came gathering to his side,—
Tears glitter'd on their cheeks of rose,—
    Why were those tears undry'd?
And one a stranger to its sire,—
    A new born babe was there,—
Its feeble wailing pierced his ear,—
    Where was its mother?—where?

They told him,—and he hasted down
    To that oblivious cell,—
From whence no tenant e'er return'd
    Among mankind to dwell,—
And there, the glory of his house,
    A lifeless ruin lay,—
And bowing down in bitter woe
    He kiss'd the unanswering clay.

But had not Faith and Hope been there,
    Whose strong, inspiring breath
Had borne that parted friend above
    The agony of death;—
Had they not stood divinely near
    To yield a sure relief,—
What else could hold the soul unwreck'd
    Amid that tide of grief?