HARK! hark! they're come! -- those merry bells That peal their joyous welcome swells; And many hearts are swelling high, With more than joy -- with ecstasy! And many an eye is straining now Toward that good ship, that sails so slow; And many a look toward the land They cast upon that deck who stand. Flow, flow, ye tides! -- ye languid gales, Rise, rise, and fill their flagging sails! -- Ye tedious moments, fly, begone, And speed the blissful meeting on. Impatient watchers! happy ye, Whose hope shall soon be certainty; Happy, thrice happy! soon to strain Fond hearts to kindred hearts again! Brothers and sisters -- children -- mother -- All, all restored to one another! All, all return'd; -- And are there none To @3me@1 restored, return'd? -- Not one. Far other meeting @3mine@1 must be With friends long lost -- far other sea Than thou, O restless ocean! flows Between us -- one that never knows Ebb-tide or flood; -- a stagnant sea; Time's gulf; -- its shore eternity! No voyager from that shadowy bourne With chart or sounding may return. There, there @3they@1 stand -- the loved! -- the lost! They beckon from that awful coast! -- @3They@1 cannot thence return to me, But I shall go to them. -- I see E'en now, methinks, those forms so dear, Bend smiling to invite me there. O, best beloved! a little while, And I obey that beckoning smile! 'T is all my comfort now to know In God's good time it shall be so; And yet, in that sweet hope's despite Sad thoughts oppress my heart to-night. And doth the sight of others' gladness Oppress the selfish heart with sadness? Now Heaven forbid! -- but tears will rise -- Unbidden tears -- into mine eyes, When busy thought contrasts with theirs My fate, my feelings. Four brief years Have wing'd their flight, since, where they stand, I stood, and watch'd that parting band, (@3Then@1 parting hence) -- and @3one@1, methought, (O human foresight! set at nought By God's unfathom'd will!) was borne From England, never to return! -- With sadden'd heart, I turn'd to seek Mine own beloved home -- to speak With her who shared it, of the fears She also shared in ... It appears But yesterday that thus we spoke; And I can see the very look With which she said, "I do believe Mine eyes have ta'en their last long leave Of her who has gone hence to-day!" Five months succeeding slipp'd away; And, on the sixth, a deep-toned bell Swung slow, of recent death to tell; It toll'd for her, with whom so late I reason'd of impending fate; To me those solemn words who spoke So late, with that remember'd look! And @3now@1, from that same steeple, swells A joyous peal of merry bells, @3Her@1 welcome, whose approaching doom We blindly thought -- a foreign tomb! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...D.G.C. TO J.A by EMILY JANE BRONTE APOLOGIA PRO VITA SUA by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE HAIL COLUMBIA by JOSEPH HOPKINSON MADRIGAL: 109 by MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI SONNET: 17. TO SIR HENRY VANE THE YOUNGER by JOHN MILTON MONNA INNOMINATA, A SONNET OF SONNETS: 8 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI SONNET: 65 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE ADONAIS; AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF JOHN KEATS by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY |