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130 SARAH JOSEPHA HALE In true and loving minds, to raise An Eden for their coming days. As on each rock, where plants can cling, The sunshine will be shed; As from the tiniest star-lit spring, The ocean's depths are fed; Thus hopes will rise, if love's clear ray Keep warm and bright life's rock-strewn way; And from small, daily joys, distill'd, The heart's deep fount of peace is fill'd;- Oh! blest when Fancy's ray is given, Like the ethereal spark, from heaven! THE WATCHER. THE night was dark and fearful, The blast swept wailing by; A Watcher, pale and tearful, Look'd forth with anxious eye; How wistfully she gazes- No gleam of morn is there! And then her heart upraises Its agony of prayer! Within that dwelling lonely, Where want and darkness reign, Her precious child, her only, Lay moaning in his pain; And death alone can free him- She feels that this must be: "But oh! for morn to see him Smile once again on me!" A hundred lights are glancing In yonder mansion fair, SARAH JOSEPHA HALE. 131 And merry feet are dancing- They heed not morning there: Oh! young and lovely creatures, One lamp, from out your store, Would give that poor boy's features To her fond gaze once more. The morning sun is shining- She heedeth not its ray; Beside her dead, reclining, That pale, dead mother lay! A smile her lip was wreathing, A smile of hope and love, As though she still were breathing- "There's light for us above!" I SING TO HIM. I sing to him! I dream he hears The song he used to love, And oft that blessed fancy cheers And bears my thoughts above Ye say, 't is idle thus to dream- But why believe it so? It is the spirit's meteor gleam, To soothe the pang of woe. Love gives to nature's voice a tone That true hearts understand,- The sky, the earth, the forest lone Are peopled by his wand; Sweet fancies all our pulses thrill While gazing on a flower, And from the gently whisp'ring rill Are heard the words of power.
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Reopened for Editing 2023-06-28 11:56:41