In Peace

A TRACK of moonlight on a quiet lake,

Whose small waves on a silver-sanded shore

Whisper of peace, and with the low winds make

Such harmonies as keep the woods awake,

And listening all night long for their sweet sake;

A green-waved slope of meadow, hovered o’er

By angel-troops of lilies, swaying light

On viewless stems, with folded wings of white;

A slumberous stretch of mountain-land, far seen

Where the low westering day, with gold and green,

Purple and amber, softly blended, fills

The wooded vales, and melts among the hills;

A vine-fringed river, winding to its rest

On the calm bosom of a stormless sea,

Bearing alike upon its placid breast,

With earthly flowers and heavenly stars impressed,

The hues of time and of eternity:

Such are the pictures which the thought of thee,

O friend, awakeneth,—charming the keen pain

Of thy departure, and our sense of loss

Requiting with the fullness of thy gain.

Lo! on the quiet grave thy life-borne cross,

Dropped only at its side, methinks doth shine,

Of thy beatitude the radiant sign!

No sob of grief, no wild lament be there,

To break the Sabbath of the holy air;

But, in their stead, the silent-breathing prayer

Of hearts still waiting for a rest like thine.

O spirit redeemed! Forgive us, if henceforth,

With sweet and pure similitudes of earth,

We keep thy pleasant memory freshly green,

Of love’s inheritance a priceless part,

Which Fancy’s self, in reverent awe, is seen

To paint, forgetful of the tricks of art,

With pencil dipped alone in colors of the heart.

1851.