Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DYING GIRL'S MESSAGE, by ELIZABETH LUMMIS FRIES ELLETT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DYING GIRL'S MESSAGE, by                 Poet Analysis    
First Line: The struggle's o'er; the coward fear is past
Last Line: On this my long, and sad, and last farewell!
Alternate Author Name(s): Ellet, Elizabth F.
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The


THE struggle's o'er; the coward fear is past;
Even wrong and pain must now their prey forego;
And the worn heart may lift its voice at last,
Strong in the majesty of cureless woe!

The iron chain, so long in silence borne,
Falls riven from the bosom of the slave;
And I, to thee -- who gav'st the meed of scorn --
Must speak once more, ere silent in the grave.

Yet what reck'st thou -- that words all idly spoken
Have made a life-long grief another's part?
While thou, to point a jest, hast wounded, broken,
That wrong'd and fearful thing -- a human heart!

Could the cold sneer, the laugh of careless glee
Which others -- thee how far beneath! -- might share,
Reward thee, then, for all it heap'd on me --
The wordless agony, -- the long despair?

How had I sinn'd? Was it not pure from stain,
That guileless offering at a noble shrine?
Did e'er a thought of ill the soul profane
That in its childlike worship knelt to thine?

Or if I err'd, perchance -- oh! human brother!
Deserved my fault the cruel penance given?
Or say if thou hast meted to another
The gentle mercy all must ask of Heaven!

Hear now the message I, so proud in sorrow,
Speed to thy presence with my latest sigh;
I -- for whose sight shall dawn no coming morrow --
Know but one wish to bless thee ere I die!

May all Heaven's richest gifts be shower'd upon thee,
May grief ne'er harbour in that manly breast;
May joy and peace, white-wing'd, with rapture, crown thee,
And keep thee ever in their golden rest!

Yet oh! by all the tears mine eyes have shed,
I pray thee, shield me from unworthy blame!
Embalm my memory with the sacred dead;
Unto the cold and stern breathe not my name.

Like some faint, fading vision of the past,
Let my veil'd image in remembrance dwell;
In mercy, be no added shadow cast
On this my long, and sad, and last farewell!





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