Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
Good-Night
By Mary (Clemmer) (Ames) Hudson (18391884)G
The while the old clock of the town
Rings out for me a deep good-night.
Thou canst not hear the words I say,
Nor hear the tender prayer I pray,
That thou mayest love me sundered wide
As thou dost love me by thy side;
And so to thee, my heart’s delight,
I say again love’s last good-night.
When life is slipping far from me,
When, drawn by Death’s tranquillity,
The far-off, fadeless morn I see.
Then wilt thou kiss the fading face,
So dear to thee in earlier grace?
And say: “No soul can take the place
Thy life-long love for thee hath won!
I’ll take thy hand, I’ll kiss thine eyes,
Lit by the new life’s rapt surprise.
The twin of soul, the truly wed,
Can never part. Rest, wifely head!
Dear heart, be not disquieted;
For fast I follow after thee,
To find Love’s last reality!”
When mine eyes, dying, seek thy face?
And wilt thou be too far from me
To hear my last good-night to thee?
I know not. Only this I know,
“Good-night,” ’tis sweet to murmur low.
By two dear words I’m nearer thee,—
By all their priceless legacy,
And burden fond of memory
That holds thy first good-night to me.
Then music, thrilled with deeper tone,
Told but one story—true love’s own;
And life, our life, was just begun,—
Its meaning learned, two lives in one.
By every promise of his Word,
That, day and night, may follow thee,
With ever-folding ministry,
Thy better angels, holding thee
In all loud day’s prosperity,
And in the haunting night-watch lone;
From all the evil sin hath wrought,
From tempting deed and soiling thought,
From sorrow and from murdered faith,
From loss in life and loss in death,
The blessèd angels hold thee sure,
And lead thee safe and save thee pure.
Strikes night’s last hour. The morning’s crown
Touches the silence. Dropping down,
Before ’tis gone, the midnight quite,
Once more, O Love, a dear Good-night.