The Bijou;
or Annual of Literature and the Arts
compiled by William Fraser
London: William Pickering,
1828
| [Page 13] |  |
| 'Twas dark with cypresses and yews which cast | 1 |
| Drear shadows on the fairer trees and flowers— | 2 |
| Affections latest signs. * * * | 3 |
| Dark portal of another world— the grave— | 4 |
| I do not fear thy shadow; and methinks, | 5 |
| If I may make my own heart oracle,— | 6 |
| The many long to enter thee, for thou | 7 |
| Alone canst reunite the loved and lost | 8 |
| With those who pine for them. I fear thee not; | 9 |
| I only fear mine own unworthiness, | 10 |
| Lest it prove barrier to my hope, and make | 11 |
| Another parting in another world. | 12 |
| ************************************************************************* | 13 |
| 1. | 14 |
| LAUREL! Oh fling thy green boughs on air, | 15 |
| There is dew on thy branches, what doth it do there? | 16 |
| Thou art worn on the conquerors shield, | 17 |
| When his country receives him from glory's red field; | 18 |
| Thou that art wreathed round the lyre of the bard, | 19 |
| When the song of its sweetness has won its reward. | 20 |
| Earth's changeless and sacred— thou proud laurel tree! | 21 |
| The ears of the midnight, why hang they on thee? | 22 |
| [Page 14] |  |
| 2. | 23 |
| Rose of the morning, the blushing and bright, | 24 |
| Thou whose whole life is noe breath of delight; | 25 |
| Beloved of the maiden, the chosen to bind | 26 |
| Her dark tresses' wealth from the wild summer wind. | 27 |
| Fair tablet, still vowed to the thoughts of the lover, | 28 |
| Whose rich leaves with sweet secrets are written all over; | 29 |
| Fragrant as blooming— thou lovely rose tree! | 30 |
| The tears of the midnight, why hang they on thee? | 31 |
| 3. | 32 |
| Dark cypress I see thee— thou art my reply, | 33 |
| Why the tears of the night on thy comrade trees lie; | 34 |
| That laurel it wreathed the red brow of the brave, | 35 |
| Yet thy shadow lies black on the warriors grave. | 36 |
| That rose was less bright than the lip which it prest, | 37 |
| Yet thy sad branches sweep o'er the maiden's last rest: | 38 |
| The brave and the lovely alike they are sleeping, | 39 |
| I marvel no more rose and laurel are weeping. | 40 |
| 4. | 41 |
| Yet sunbeam of heaven thou fall'st on the tomb— | 42 |
| Why pausest thou by such dwelling of doom? | 43 |
| Before thee the grove and the garden are spread; | 44 |
| Why lingerest thou round the place of the dead? | 45 |
| [Page 15] |  |
| Thou art from another, a lovelier sphere, | 46 |
| Unknown to the sorrows that darken us here. | 47 |
| Thou art as a herald of hope from above:— | 48 |
| Weep mourner no more o'er thy grief and thy love; | 49 |
| Still thy heart in its beating, be glad of such rest, | 50 |
| Though it call from thy bosom its dearest and best. | 51 |
| Weep no more that affection thus loosens its tie, | 52 |
| Weep no more the the loved and the loving must die | 53 |
| Weep no more o'er the cold dust that lies at your feet, | 54 |
| But gaze on yon starry world— there ye shall meet. | 55 |
| 5. | 56 |
| O heart of mine! Is there not One dwelling there | 57 |
| To whom thy love clings in its hope and its prayer? | 58 |
| For whose sake thou numberest each hour of the day, | 59 |
| As a link in the fetters that keep me away; | 60 |
| When I think of the glad and the beautiful home, | 61 |
| Which oft in my dreams to my spirit hath come; | 62 |
| That when our last sleep on my eyelids hath prest; | 63 |
| That I may be with thee at home and at rest: | 64 |
| When wanderer no longer on life's weary shore, | 65 |
| I may kneel at thy feet, and part from thee no more; | 66 |
| While death holds such hope forth to soothe and to save, | 67 |
| Oh sumbeam of heaven thou mayest will light the grave. | 68 |
from The Bijou, 1828, pp. 13-15 |
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