I saw the radiant light of joy
Gild each unclouded brow;
I saw upon their quivering lips
Their young love's whispered vow.
I turned, as an unbidden tear
Had started to my eyes;
I felt 'twas better far to be
Happy like them than wise.
PEN the shutters wide, my child,
I cannot sleep to-night,
I love to see the soft snow shine
With mild and silvery light.
Sit here, and I will tell you
How thirty years ago
I watched from this very window
The lovely stainless snow.
The moon was shining brightly,
Just as to-night she shines,
And I was looking wistful
Down that long walk of pines.
I waited for my lover,
Ah! child, my hair is gray; But the past lives in my memory, As tho' 'twere yesterday.
I waited for my lover,
Ah! child, the past was bright;
And calm as is the shining
Of yon soft moon to-night.
Why was it taken from me?
For one year quickly fled;
Why have I lingered thirty years
Of loneliness instead?
All, all comes up before me,
The bye-gone happiness ;
The bounding heart all quivering
With its great joy's excess.
I see him riding swiftly
Upon his favourite steed,
I hear him urge with cheering word
The brave beast to its speed.
Swift, swift as winged arrow,
Across the sward he flies;
Ah! now he's lying motionless,
The light fades from my eyes.
I knelt beside him on the earth,
I raised his drooping head,
I pushed aside the tangled curls,
And yet no tear I shed.
They tried to take him from me,
But all that awful night
His head lay on my bosom,
Until the morning light.
He heard me as I breathed his name,
He knew me as I prest
Sad death-cold kisses on his face,
"Dear God, thou knowest best.
Could I but take you with me,
Oh! blest had been His will;
But thus to die, and leave you,"
He sigh'd-then all was still.
Some would have died beneath it,
God gave me strength to bear,
A woe-struck woman all my life,
Few could my sorrow share.
But with the coming morning
I see the sky look bright!
Child, do not look so mournful,
One day there will be light.
Now draw the curtains softly,
For I would sleep awhile,
But e'er you leave me dearest,
Come, let me see you smile.
Good-night, kind heart, dear daughter,
For child you've been to me;
He is but gone before me
To where I soon shall be.
Nay, do not linger near me,
I like to be alone,
I like to lie thus thinking
Of all the faces gone.
They cheer my silent chamber
With tender radiance bright,
With them I'm never lonely,
Good-night, dear child, good-night.
When in the cheerful daylight
I stood beside her bed,
Lo! she had crossed the river,
All cold she lay and dead.
H! I have come from distant climes
To claim thee as my own,
To ask thee to redeem the pledge
Which once from thee I won.
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