The New Monthly Magazine, Volume 11, Pages 536-537
THE CRUSADER'S RETURN.
"Alas! the mother that him bare,
If she had been in presence there,
In his wan cheeks and sunburnt hair,
She had not known her child!"—Marmion.
Rest, pilgrim, rest! thou'rt from the Syrian Land,
Thou 'rt from the wild and wondrous East, I know
By the long-wither'd palm-branch in thy hand,
And by the darkness of thy sunburnt brow.
Alas! the bright, the beautiful, who part,
So full of hope, for that far country's bourne!
Alas! the weary and the sunk in heart,
And dimm'd in aspect, who like thee return!
Thou 'rt faint—stay, rest thee from thy toils at last,
Through the high chesnuts lightly plays the breeze,
The stars gleam out, the Ave hour is past,
The sailor's hymn hath died along the seas.
Thou 'rt faint and worn—hear'st thou the fountain, welling
Midst the grey pillars of yon ruin'd shrine?
Seest thou the dewy grapes before thee swelling?
—He that hath left me train'd that loaded vine!
He was a child when thus the bower he wove,
(Oh! hath a day fled since his childhood's time?)
That I might sit and hear the sound I love,
Beneath its shade—the convent's vesper-chime.
And sit thou there!—for he was gentle ever;
With his glad voice he would have welcomed thee,
And brought fresh fruits to cool thy parch'd lip's fever—
—There, in his place thou 'rt resting—Where is he?
If I could hear that laughing voice again,
But once again!—how oft it wanders by,
In the still hours, like some remember'd strain,
Troubling the heart with its wild melody!
Thou hast seen much, tired pilgrim! hast thou seen
In that far land, the chosen land of yore,
A youth—my Guido—with the fiery mien,
And the dark eye of this Italian shore?
The dark, clear, lightning eye!—on heaven and earth
It smiled—as if man were not dust—it smiled!
The very air seem'd kindling with his mirth,
And I—my heart grew young before my child!
My blessed child!—I had but him—yet he
Fill'd all my home ev'n with o'erflowing joy,
Sweet laughter, and wild song, and footstep free—
—Where is he now?—my pride, my flower, my boy!
