Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MARY AND AGNES BERRY; IN MEMORIAM, by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MARY AND AGNES BERRY; IN MEMORIAM, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Two friends within one grave we place
Last Line: That gilds this open grave.
Alternate Author Name(s): Houghton, 1st Baron; Houghton, Lord
Subject(s): Graves; Tombs; Tombstones


TWO friends within one grave we place
United in our tears, --
Sisters, scarce parted for the space
Of more than eighty years;
And she whose bier is borne to-day,
The one the last to go,
Bears with her thoughts that force their way
Above the moment's woe;

Thoughts of the varied human life
Spread o'er that field of time --
The toil, the passion, and the strife,
The virtue and the crime.
Yet 'mid this long tumultuous scene,
The image on our mind
Of these dear women rests serene
In happy bounds confined.

Within one undisturbed abode
Their presence seems to dwell,
From which continual pleasures flowed,
And countless graces fell;
Not unbecoming this our age
Of decorative forms,
Yet simple as the hermitage
Exposed to Nature's storms.

Our English grandeur on the shelf
Deposed its decent gloom,
And every pride unloosed itself
Within that modest room;
Where none were sad, and few were dull,
And each one said his best,
And beauty was most beautiful
With vanity at rest.

Brightly the day's discourse rolled on,
Still casting on the shore
Memorial pearls of days bygone,
And worthies now no more;
And little tales of long ago
Took meaning from those lips,
Wise chroniclers of joy and woe,
And eyes without eclipse.

No taunt or scoff obscured the wit
That there rejoiced to reign;
They never could have laughed at it
If it had carried pain.
There needless scandal, e'en though true,
Provoked no bitter smile,
And even men-of-fashion grew
Benignant for a while.

Not that there lacked the nervous scorn
At every public wrong,
Not that a friend was left forlorn
When victim of the strong:
Free words, expressing generous blood,
No nice punctilio weighed,
For deep and earnest womanhood
Their reason underlaid.

As generations onward came,
They loved from all to win
Revival of the sacred flame
That glowed their hearts within.
While others in Time's greedy mesh
The faded garlands flung,
Their hearts went out and gathered fresh
Affections from the young.

Farewell, dear ladies! in your loss
We feel the past recede,
The gap our hands could almost cross
Is now a gulf indeed:
Ye, and the days in which your claims
And charms were early known,
Lose substance, and ye stand as names
That History makes its own.

Farewell! the pleasant social page
Is read, but ye remain
Examples of ennobled age,
Long life without a stain;
A lesson to be scorned by none,
Least by the wise and brave,
Delightful as the winter sun
That gilds this open grave.





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