Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ELEGIAC STANZAS TO THE MEMORY OF D.M.M., by DAVID MACBETH MOIR Poet's Biography First Line: Brightly the sun illumes the skies Last Line: And glory dawns beyond the grave! Alternate Author Name(s): Delta Subject(s): Babies; Children - Lost; Death; Farewell; Memory; Mourning; Infants; Dead, The; Parting; Bereavement | ||||||||
I. BRIGHTLY the sun illumes the skies, But Nature's charms no bliss impart; A cloud seems spread before the eyes, Whose wintry shadow chills the heart: Oh! eyes that, for my children's sake, Have poured forth tears like summer rain! Oh! breaking heart, that will not break, Yet never can be whole again! II. Two years agone, and where shone hearth So fraught with buoyant mirth as ours? Five fairies knit our thoughts to earth With bands like steel, tho' wreath'd of flowers: How wildly warm, how softly sweet, The spells that bade our hearts rejoice; While echo'd round us pattering feet, And voicesthat seem'd Joy's own voice! III. Then light and life illumed each eye, And rapture beam'd from each young brow, And eager forms were flitting by, That would notcould not rest; but now The light is quench'd, the life is fled; Where are the feet that bounded free? Thrice have we wept the early dead, And one small grave-turf covers three! IV. The spell is broken! never more Can mortal life again seem gay; No future ever can restore The perish'd and the past away! Though many a blessing gilds our lot, Though bright eyes still our hearth illume; Yet, O dear lost ones! ye are not, And half the heart is in your tomb! V. Sudden it fell, the fatal shaft, That struck blithe Charlie down in death; And, while Grief's bitterest cup we quaff'd, We turned to watch wee Willie's breath, That faintly ebb'd, and ebb'd away, Till all was still; and, ere the sun A tenth time shed his parting ray, Their bed of dreamless rest was one! VI. And next, dear David, thou art gone! Beloved boy, and can it be, That now to us remains alone Our unavailing grief for thee? Yet, when we trace thine upward track To where immortal spirits reign, We do not, dare not, wish thee back Back to this world of care again! VII. Summer was on the hills; the trees Were bending down with golden fruit; The bushes seem'd alive with bees, And birds whose songs were never mute; But 'twas even then, dear boy, when flowers, O'ermantling earth, made all things gay, That winter of the heart was ours, And thine the hues of pale decay! VIII. Yes! David, but two moons agone, And who so full of life as thou? An infant Samson, vigour shone In thy knit frame and fearless brow. Oh! how our inmost souls it stirr'd, To listen to thine alter'd tongue, And see thee moping like a bird, Whose strength was like the lion's young. IX. Yet so it was;and, day by day, Unquench'd thy thirst for sun and air, Down the smooth walks, with blossoms gay, We wheel'd thee in thy garden-chair; And as we mark'd thy languid eye, Wistful, the beds of bloom survey, We dared not think thou wert to die, Even in a briefer space than they. X. Now gleams the west, a silver sea Besprent with clouds of wavy gold; Earth looks like Eden; can it be That all thy days and nights are told? Is there no voice, whose potent sway, Can pierce through Death's Cimmerian gloom, Can bid the dead awake, and say "Arise! 'tis morning in the tomb?" XI. Yes! such there is; and thou that voice Hast heardhast heard it, and obey'd; And we should mourn not, but rejoice That Heaven is now thy dwelling made That thou hast join'd thy brothers lost That thou hast reach'd a happy shore, Where peace awaits the tempest-tost, And stormy billows rage no more. XII. Three blessed beings! ye are now Where pangs and partings are unknown, Where glory girds each sainted brow, And golden harps surround the throne. Oh! to have hail'd that blissful sight, Unto the angels only given, When thy two brothers, robed in light, Embraced thee at the gates of Heaven! XIII. David, farewell! our mourning thus We know 'tis vain; it may not be That thou can'st come again to us, But we, dear child, will go to thee: Then let our thoughts ascend on high, To Him whose arm is strong to save; Hope gives to Faith the victory, And glory dawns beyond the grave! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HUNGERFIELD by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE MOURNER by LOUISE MOREY BOWMAN HECUBA MOURNS by MARILYN NELSON THERE IS NO GOD BUT by AGHA SHAHID ALI IF I COULD MOURN LIKE A MOURNING DOVE by FRANK BIDART THE RUSTIC LAD'S LAMENT IN THE TOWN by DAVID MACBETH MOIR |
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