Classic and Contemporary Poetry
CASA WAPPY; THE CHILD'S PET-NAME, CHOSEN BY HIMSELF, by DAVID MACBETH MOIR Poet's Biography First Line: And hast thou sought thy heavenly home Last Line: Casa wappy! Alternate Author Name(s): Delta Subject(s): Children - Lost; Death; Family Life; Grief; Mothers & Sons; Dead, The; Relatives; Sorrow; Sadness | ||||||||
I. AND hast thou sought thy heavenly home, Our fond, dear boy The realms where sorrow dare not come, Where life is joy? Pure at thy death, as at thy birth, Thy spirit caught no taint from earth, Even by its bliss we mete our dearth, Casa Wappy! II. Despair was in our last farewell, As closed thine eye; Tears of our anguish may not tell, When thou didst die; Words may not paint our grief for thee, Sighs are but bubbles on the sea Of our unfathom'd agony, Casa Wappy! III. Thou wert a vision of delight To bless us given; Beauty embodied to our sight A type of Heaven: So dear to us thou wert, thou art Even less thine own self, than a part Of mine, and of thy Mother's heart, Casa Wappy! IV. Thy bright, brief day knew no decline 'Twas cloudless joy; Sunrise and night alone were thine, Beloved boy! This morn beheld thee blithe and gay; That found thee prostrate in decay; And, ere a third shone, clay was clay, Casa Wappy! V. Gem of our hearth, our household pride, Earth's undefiled, Could love have saved, thou hadst not died, Our dear, sweet child! Humbly we bow to Fate's decree; Yet had we hoped that Time should see Thee mourn for us, not us for thee, Casa Wappy! VI. Do what I may, go where I will, Thou meet'st my sight; There dost thou glide before me still A form of light! I feel thy breath upon my cheek, I see thee smile, I hear thee speak, Till oh! my heart is like to break, Casa Wappy! VII. Methinks, thou smil'st before me now, With glance of stealth; The hair thrown back from thy full brow In buoyant health: I see thine eyes' deep violet light, Thy dimpled cheek carnation'd bright, Thy clasping arms so round and white, Casa Wappy! VIII. The nursery shows thy pictured wall, Thy bat, thy bow, Thy cloak and bonnet, club and ball; But where art thou? A corner holds thine empty chair; Thy playthings idly scatter'd there, But speak to us of our despair, Casa Wappy! IX. Even to the last, thy every word To gladto grieve Was sweet, as sweetest song of bird On summer's eve; In outward beauty undecay'd, Death o'er thy spirit cast no shade, And, like the rainbow, thou didst fade, Casa Wappy! X. We mourn for thee, when blind blank night The chamber fills; We pine for thee, when morn's first light Reddens the hills; The sun, the moon, the stars, the sea, Allto the wall-flower and wild-pea Are changed: we saw the world thro' thee, Casa Wappy! XI. And though, perchance, a smile may gleam Of casual mirth, It doth not own, whate'er may seem, An inward birth: We miss thy small step on the stair; We miss thee at thine evening prayer; All day we miss theeevery where Casa Wappy! XII. Snows muffled earth when thou didst go, In life's spring-bloom, Down to the appointed house below The silent tomb. But now the green leaves of the tree, The cuckoo, and "the busy bee," Return; but with them bring not thee, Casa Wappy! XIII. 'Tis so; but can it be(while flowers Revive again) Man's doom, in death that we and ours For aye remain? Oh! can it be, that, o'er the grave, The grass renew'd should yearly wave, Yet God forget our child to save? Casa Wappy! XIV. It cannot be; for were it so Thus man could die, Life were a mockeryThought were woe And Truth a lie Heaven were a coinage of the brain Religion frenzyVirtue vain And all our hopes to meet again, Casa Wappy! XV. Then be to us, O dear, lost child! With beam of love, A star, death's uncongenial wild Smiling above! Soon, soon, thy little feet have trode The skyward path, the seraph's road, That led thee back from man to God, Casa Wappy! XVI. Yet, 'tis sweet balm to our despair, Fond, fairest boy, That Heaven is God's, and thou art there, With Him in joy! There past are death and all its woes, There beauty's stream for ever flows, And pleasure's day no sunset knows, Casa Wappy! XVII. Farewell, thenfor a while, farewell Pride of my heart! It cannot be that long we dwell, Thus torn apart: Time's shadows like the shuttle flee; And, dark howe'er life's night may be, Beyond the grave I'll meet with thee, Casa Wappy! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONOMA FIRE by JANE HIRSHFIELD AS THE SPARKS FLY UPWARDS by JOHN HOLLANDER WHAT GREAT GRIEF HAS MADE THE EMPRESS MUTE by JUNE JORDAN CHAMBER MUSIC: 19 by JAMES JOYCE DIRGE AT THE END OF THE WOODS by LEONIE ADAMS THE RUSTIC LAD'S LAMENT IN THE TOWN by DAVID MACBETH MOIR |
|