THE FOREST GRAVE.
137
To view thee in thy stillness,
Vast, beautiful, sublime,
To seek thee, did he wander forth
From habitable clime?
Vast, beautiful, sublime,
To seek thee, did he wander forth
From habitable clime?
From the sunny home of childhood,
Did he wander forth alone,
To perish in a distant land
Unknowing and unknown?
Did he wander forth alone,
To perish in a distant land
Unknowing and unknown?
Did no kind heart weep o'er him
The burning tears of grief?
Did no fond bosom heave for one
Whose noonday was so brief?
The burning tears of grief?
Did no fond bosom heave for one
Whose noonday was so brief?
And if forlorn, forsaken,
When life and being fled,
What kindly hand thus placed the turf
Above the lonely dead?
When life and being fled,
What kindly hand thus placed the turf
Above the lonely dead?
The green grass, thin and waving,
The dark earth, hard and cold,
Tell that one faithful heart was near
To minister untold.
The dark earth, hard and cold,
Tell that one faithful heart was near
To minister untold.
To bathe the throbbing temples,
To watch the parting breath,
And when the spirit passed, to pay
The last sad rites of death.
To watch the parting breath,
And when the spirit passed, to pay
The last sad rites of death.
