thoughts
How sad, my God, to linger here,
‡‡‘Mid all these works of thine.
Alone, bereft of all I’ve loved,
‡‡And joys that once were mine!
Loud anthems cheer those crested waves,
‡‡And kiss the floods below;
Where hidden thunder smites the rocks,
‡‡And bursts in ceaseless praise,
Of HIM who fix’d the rainbow there,
‡‡To mark its brightest days!
Oh! where ‘mid all this radiant joy,
‡‡Can sorrow hope to live,
Deserted by those rays of Peace,
‡‡Which Thou alone can’st give?
* * * *
Cold, cold, and blank, that once bright home,
‡‡Where now, in lonely hours,
Love hovers round the vacant chair,
‡‡And haunts the silent bowers;
And Hopes once cherish’d there, have chang’d,
‡‡To Tears in sorrow shed,
Reflecting back the scenes I lov’d,
‡‡Ere that sweet spirit fled!
Kindred scenes, my GOD are these,
‡‡Which now around me lie,
Ever whisp’ring ― “cease poor soul,
‡‡WE too have yet to die!”
September 21, 1871
Source: Ridgway, Robert (ed.) The Canadian Magazine vol. 1 – July to December 1871. Toronto: Irving, Flint & Co., 1871. p. 295