Marian Longfellow

“ E'en though we miss thee here.
For thee are past the clouds, and all the fear
Bred of this life which shall no more appear
To thee as good; because thy sky is clear.
"It is all right." Kind soul, so bright and true,
We miss thee now, we miss the happy view
Of all that through the days of life here grew.
The old hath passed—for thee hath dawned the new.
"It is all right!" Thy words, as fell the night,
Before thine eyes had pierced the coming light,
Fall on our ears a benison all bright ”

“ Such chain as that 'twere ill that thou shouldst wear!
I would not have thee swayed, dear love, by aught
Thy manhood would disclaim; nor would I hold
Thee prisoner to my clinging heart, howe'er
Its pleading touch would seek to thee enfold!
Love cannot live where faith and trust are not,—
Love will not brook a gilded chain to wear;—
And where the fetters bind, the bird's sweet song
Is hushed—the skies above, no more, are fair! ”

“ In perfect rest till He shall bid
Them rise who now in sleep are laid;
Whose life, and death, and waiting e'en,
On Him in childlike faith is stayed!
No sound is heard within the spot
Save the soft wind among the trees,
Or song of insect's busy hum,
Or low of herd upon the breeze.
I walk 'mid graves of those long dead,
Who lived and suffered, strove and won,
And now have entered into life
E'en while we say their life is done! ”

“ For the life that hath no bound to its path but the open sea;
For the soul as free as air, that by right belongs to me!
For power to cast aside these fetters dark and strong,
To bound over heaving deep—and no more to feel the thong
That cuts through the quivering heart and the restless soul, as well!
I yearn for a fuller life, with a might I cannot quell! ”

“ To swell forth a later day;
For Love that hath never a constant root
Must fade and wither away.
So boat sail on, if you be not true;
And maiden, oh hush that song!
For the years that are coming swift to you
Bear a dearer love along!
32
MY SHIP
One day I cast my lot upon the troublous tides of life,
And ventured all my hoarded love upon its fitful strife.
On one frail mortal like myself I set the store of years,
And freighted well the ship that day with all my hopes and fears.
With all my hopes (for fears were not, upon that happy day) ,
And never sign of cloud uprose above my sunlit way! ”

“ Thine eyes have told me lover's sweetest tale,
And tender lips have sealed me wholly thine!
So, if within the hours apart we walk
Ofttimes in paths that take us from our nest—
The nest we built with loving heart and hands—
It takes not from us love nor trust nor rest! 37
It takes them not—no hand but ours can rob
Each other of this gift surpassing all!
No hand but ours can bind or break this bond,
And from no other hand but ours can fall
Blight or distrust, or grief or bitter pain ”

“ So little prisoner, that thou ne'er shouldst stray
From Love's dear shrine,—but, through the waning years
Our love-life should grow dearer day by day!
38
SELECTION
Yes, hold me closer, closer in thy arms,
And closer to thy beating heart, that I,
Secure in all that crowns a woman's lot,
May now, with thee, the bitter past defy!
Yet would I not call down an envious doom
On any of the future's sunny days;
'Twere ill in me to tempt the Fates, I trow;
But, rather, as one pleading, kneels and prays:—
"Stay but thy hand, O Time! ”

“ In lowly tents their bivouac find, though not by us forgot.
Wail forth, oh music, in soft strains, and learn, oh soul of man,
As down the leafy aisles it throbs, how brief on earth the span
Of Life, and turn from its rude clash and all its weary pain,
To muse awhile on heroes gone and hear their praise again.
As words of orator now fall upon the listening ear,
Life grows less close and Death is robbed of much of doubt and fear ”

“ Till in a distant land he strayed
And heard at close of summer day
The old sweet song rung by his chime
He long had listened for in vain!
Quickly rose tears in lifted eyes,
Quickly his heart renounced its pain!
"O loved and lost! for many a day
You've called me from my youth away!"
For now on foreign strand he waits
Alone in age—alone in kin,
Listening as listens one who bides
Outside of Heaven, to praise within.
Not vain his search! not lost his love! ”

“ Youth and love, and hope, aweary in these years have grown and I
Walk afaint in life's rough pathway where erstwhile my feet did fly. 70
But I think when Azrael greets me I would fain the hour were mine
'Twixt the sunset and the even—at the summer day's decline.
So the martins through the ether in their graceful flight should be
Like the harbingers of freedom to the soul from earth set free! ”

“ Than her pure spirit sheddeth, so blithe and debonnaire!
O happy rose that lieth upon that bosom white,
To thee kind Fate hath granted a goal of pure delight!
In vain I sigh and murmur, thy lot all envious view,
And seek in vain to stifle this moment's pungent rue!
O happy rose, as lying beneath her light caress,
Now whisper to her softly, what I may not confess,
And tell her she is fairer than bloom of earth, to-night,
In that her soul exhaleth all virtues pure and bright! ”

“ With tender meaning all its own,
And trilled and trilled forever!
"O heart," it sang, "let thine own life
Become a song to others,
That thou mayst count them in the strife
Not alien, but as brothers! ”

“ The charm that clings eternal to ocean fills my soul,
As mist-wreathed waves in grandeur pass on unto their goal!
Ye phantoms on Life's ocean! how like the mist ye seem,
As backward turneth memory across Life's glow and gleam! ”

“ Though thy dear presence bides with me
In thought alone, that ne'er shall fade!
We may not wander hand in hand,
We seldom greet us face to face,
Yet in my life thy love, thy words
Have ever yet a hallowed place! ”

“ For he hath won for'er a higher fame.
Soldier of cross and battlefield, his death
Hath taught humanity that fleeting breath
Of mortal glory here is but a slender span, 101
And brief, indeed, on earth the life of man!
Dear earth enfold him in your restful arms
And guard him well, though past are all alarms;
E'en though, while now at rest he calmly sleeps,
The nation weeps! The stricken nation weeps! ”

“ Nor note the hours that wingéd fly.
Hushed is the voice of sordid trade,
And e'en the birds' sweet song is stilled;
While all the cares that Life hath made
Slip from my heart, which now is filled
With peace alone. O Nature pure! ”

“ The hours of life that thou alone in mem'ry shalt enfold.
Only within thy dark, grave eyes would I be mirrored now,
And only from thy folded lips learn love's own cherished vow.
"Drink to me only with thine eyes, and I will pledge with mine!"
While overhead, above life's stream, shines out love's star divine.
And life no more is dark and drear, and storms no more may break
Where love's own glorious light shines forth and bids the heart awake!
34
TO MISS H., WEARING A ROSE (May 13, 1890)
O happy rose that bloometh upon her gentle breast! ”

“ That sheds its soft light over each scene outspread;
And Tyranny's hand, all in vain, is defying
The Heaven-born Peace that to Freedom is wed!
We feel the glad throb of the patriot's devotion,
That e'er to the Stars and the Stripes must be due,
All else is engulfed in o'erwhelming emotion
That finds its fulfillment the Red, White and Blue! ”

“ Where disappointment ne'er may lurk,
Where round thy head the glories shine
Which crowns endeavor firm and true,
And gives thee roses—never rue!
Here do we leave thee with thy brow
Encircled with the roses sweet;
Victory's token, crowning now
Thine art with all our praises meet;
Here do we leave thee, victor still,
For Art bends not to Death's stern will! ”

“ Leave me alone with life's dreary refrain!
Never again shall I hear his fond pleading,
Listening I hear only—"Never again!"
We are severed by more than the ocean's vast billows!
We must walk in our paths each alone and in pain!
But our hearts grow but closer, and fonder, and nearer,
Though here upon earth, it be "never again!"
72
HADST THOU DENIED
So many things, dear Lord, I asked ”

“ Make of the chimes their very own.
Though hand that made is turned to clay,
His work—the chimes—lives on alway!
48
FRANCIS COSTER'S STORY (I came across this legend, in prose, some time ago, to which was prefixed this note: "The following exquisite story was written by Anthony of Sienna, and translated from the Dominican records by Francis Coster, a famous preacher of the sixteenth century. Mr. Gould, author of Mysteries of the Middle Ages, has succeeded in rendering it into current English."
In rendering the story into verse, I have kept to the text as closely as possible. M. L.) ”