Page:Poems Hoffman.djvu/403

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THE FORGOTTEN GRAVE

Beside a lonely and neglected grave
I paused and watched the tangled grasses wave
  Mournfully to and fro;
A rude, unlettered slab still strove to keep
Its lonely vigil o'er the grass-grown heap
Where bereaved love had wept and ceased to weep,
  Long years ago.

The lonely pines wailed forth a plaintive dirge,
Like the low moaning of the ocean surge
  Through hollow caves,
Till with an inner consciousness, I heard
A voice, that through the moaning branches stirred
With the weird melody in every word
  Of restless waves.

"I am forgotten, summers bloom and die
And careless strangers wander heedless by
  My lonely tomb;
But long, long years my pulseless heart has slept
Since love above its moldering ashes wept,
And where the myrtle's graceful garlands crept
  Rude thistles bloom.

"I am forgotten, yonder marble pile,
Where through the golden days tall lilies smile
  And jasmines cling,
Is decked anew each day with loving care
While sorrow kneels in tearful anguish there
And love bestows in silent, mute despair
  Her offering.

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