THE DEATH OF EMILY BRONTÉ.
(PARAPHRASED FROM HER SISTER'S LETTER ON THAT SUBJECT.)
FREE from pain and sickness now,
In this world no more enduring;
Care no more shall shade her brow,
Death, eternal peace securing;
Quenched her spirit's vigorous fire,
Bright-yet fleeting ere the morrow,
Short, but hard, her conflict dire,
Sorrow-sorrow-sorrow-sorrow!
E'en the day we hopeful thought,
Yet some weeks she still might tarry;
Soul its native heavens sought,
Could we would we-death's dart
Quietly sad, her wasted frame,
We 'neath the hallowed pavement placed;
Breathing soft our sister's name,
Slowly home our steps retraced.
Very calm-our hearts resigned;
Who that saw her pain and anguish,
Would for longer life have pined,
In longer woe to see her languish ?
We know, we feel, she is at peace,
From piercing wind and bitter frost,
Haply freed she claims release,
Poor spirit, sadly "tempest toss'd."
Had she but lived-but why repine,
On thoughts like these we dare not dwell,
Her fate, my brother's, chance soon mine,
Again shall tone the church-yard knell.
Familiar faces-home endearing,
Fading-withering-vanished-gone-
Woe! woe to him, who trembling, fearing,
Sees them passing one by one.
But 't is God's will; be praised His grace;
For good, of earthly cares bereft,
We know our last abiding place,
Is better far than that we left.
IN visions of the darksome night,
Foretelling in His wondrous might,
Almighty power hath oft revealed,
What else had been from man concealed.
To check the monarch's purposed scheme,
In warning came the threatening dream;
When justified and free from blame,
Him guiltless doth the dream proclaim.
An exile from his father's home,
A pious man was doomed to roam;
Though hard his couch, what dreams delightGod! and his glorious angels bright!
In after years when homeward bent,
Harsh foes would spoil his peaceful tent,
The Syrian's foul design is checked,
"The dream by night" doth still protect.
How innocent and artless seems
That loved one, who recounts his dreams,
Prophetic of his future state,
But woe for him whom brethren hate!
Skilled to explain the mystic truth,
In prison see that injured youth
Interpret dreams, that one doth glad,
While hopeless one is trembling sad.
Mysterious where the corn and kine
Are heralds of the will divine,
The wise men stand amazed around;
The captive doth these dreams expound.
Boldly amid the adverse host,
The warrior takes his listening post;
From troubled visions hears the foe,
Predict their own sad overthrow.
Assaying, God in slumber's dream,
What Israel's king would precious deem,
With glory graced that diadem
Where wisdom formed its brightest gem.
But not like him that monarch vain,
Furious would have the wise men slain,
But that, God-taught, the Hebrew youth
Revealed the awful vision's truth.
So ye, although at first perplexed,
With God's aid seek the holy text,
Propound what here half-hidden seems,
Your senses wake to sacred dreams.
ימי שנותינו בהם שבעים ישנה
"The days of our years are threescore years and ten." Ps. xc. 10.
"THREESCORE and ten," the youth replies,
"How far off seems that day;"
"Threescore and ten," the old man cries,
"How quickly pass'd away."
That lengthened life too short appears,
Which wronged nor injured any;
If passed in sin, our youthful years,
Though few, are all too many.
מקום אשר אזכיר את שמי אבא אליך וברכתיך בכל
"In all places where I record my name,
I will come to thee and bless thee." EXODUS XX. 24.
Is it on the mountain top,
We best can worship Thee?
Is it on the wide-spread plain,
Most reverent we should be ?
Is it on the swelling deep,
We best can breathe the prayer;
Or is it in the flowery mead,
We should the hymn prepare?
Plaintive through the solemn woods,
The "still small voice" be heard?
'Mid the city's ceaseless toil,
His wondrous works revered?
Stately halls exultingly
Re-echo with Thy might;
Humble peasants eloquent,
Invoke Thy glorious light.
Need we tread the sacred fane,
There only, God to seek?
Temples wide the world outspreads,
In all, His praise to speak.
Ocean-earth-the wide extent,
Alike His house of prayer;
Where'er invoked, the God of love
Will come and bless us there.
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