 W1136 POETRY CLIPPING IN SCHOOL WORK OF MARGARETTE BARKER LERNED [MCQUESTEN]
Jun 2 1825 [estimated date] 1
To:
From: [Adams Female Academy, 2 Londonderry, New Hampshire. POETRY
(For the Boston Recorder)
"Lines suggested by the decease of E.B. who died at A......., June 2, aged 19 years."3
Where is the graceful polish of that brow?
And where the lustre of that brilliant eye
Just beaming with the eloquence of life!
Gone to enrich the saviour's diadem,
And sparkle in the radiant firmament
Above, in quenchless and immortal beauty.
That voice! Fond memory lingers yet, to catch
The soft, rich cadence of its friendly welcome;
Like a Aeolian harp, whose strings were stirred
Gently and sweetly, by the breathings forth
Of warm affection. Now new melodies
Employ the richness of that voice, and strains
That swell the harmonious minstrelay of Heaven.
A withering hand was on him, and he died,
Lingering awhile, upon the shores of life
He plunged, and death's dark billows covered him.
He died--but not for death. The very hand
That fed the cankerous corruption with
His noble form, fanned bright the flowing fire
Of his celestial nature, till it burst
The tender ligaments that bound it here,
And hied it to its native home.
We mourn. Alas! We list, in vain, to catch
The rapturous strains, his happy soul drinks in.
In vain our eyes would pierce the veil that hides
The dazzling glories of the upper world;
Where burst upon his wildered gaze, the bright
and pearly gates--the glittering minarets
Of the new Jerusalem.
We mourn! Frail sight,
That will not joy to see a tender bud
Transplanted to the richer soil of Heaven,
Where, fed by its genial showers and nurtured
By its soft and balmy air, its petals
May unfold upon more glorious scenes
And bloom amid the flowers of Paradise.
We weep beside his grave! There rustles past
A low deep whisper, like the soft sighing
Of the breeze of even, among the branches;
"Youth of high hopes and budding promises,
That thinkest to stand on Zion's battlements,
Or be a polished pillar in the temple;
Know that the bright and sunlit scenery
In which thou baskest new, may be o'ercast
With lowering clouds, of portent terrible;
And the cherished bud, withered and faded
When just about to put its beauties on.
Watch! For the blast may sweep with sudden power;
Watch! That the seeds of premature decay
That may be lurking near thy warm young heart,
May shed their blossoms here, and bear the fruit
Of blest fruition, in Eternal Life."
W. B. H.
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1 We have estimated the date during Margarette's two years at Adams Female Academy, 1824 & 1825.
2 For a note on Adams Female Academy and Margarette B. Lerned, see W1100.
3 This poem clipping may refer to the death of a young friend or classmate. |
