SYMPATHY.
9
I am sure that so gentle a spirit,
Embodying goodness and love—
Her birthright—must also inherit
A place in the "mansions above."
Embodying goodness and love—
Her birthright—must also inherit
A place in the "mansions above."
Before me in exquisite vision
Are scenes that enchanted me then,
And in this September Elysian
The past I live over again.
Are scenes that enchanted me then,
And in this September Elysian
The past I live over again.
Sympathy.
So oft the telegraphic wire
Repeats some startling, harrowing tale
Of crime and famine, flood and fire,
Of bitter want or sorrow's wail,
That many a sympathetic soul
Which once a touch of nature stirred
Indifferent grows, until the whole
Is heard but as an idle word.
Repeats some startling, harrowing tale
Of crime and famine, flood and fire,
Of bitter want or sorrow's wail,
That many a sympathetic soul
Which once a touch of nature stirred
Indifferent grows, until the whole
Is heard but as an idle word.
But cold indeed the heart must be
That is not turned by pity's weight
To that lone city by the sea,
In ashes sitting desolate;
Her hapless, homeless people fled,
Or crouching low by ruined walls,
Unfed, unclad, uncomforted—
A scene humanity appalls.
That is not turned by pity's weight
To that lone city by the sea,
In ashes sitting desolate;
Her hapless, homeless people fled,
Or crouching low by ruined walls,
Unfed, unclad, uncomforted—
A scene humanity appalls.
