I saw her when life's tide was high, When youth was hov'ring o'er her brow, When joy was dancing in her eye, And her cheek blush'd hope's crimson glow. I saw her 'mid a fairy throng, She seem'd the gayest of the gay; I saw her lightly glide along, 'Neath beauty's smile, and pleasure's lay. I saw her in her bridal robe, The blush of joy was mounting high; I mark'd her bosom's heaving throb, I mark'd her dark and downcast eye. I saw her when a mother's love, Ask'd at her hand a mother's care; She look'd an angel from above, Hov'ring round a cherub fair. I saw her not till cold and pale, She slumber'd on death's icy arm; The rose had faded on her cheek, Her lip had lost its power to charm. That eye was dim which brightly shone; That brow was cold, that heart was still The witch'ries of that form had flown The lifeless clay had ceas'd to feel. I saw her wedded to the grave; Her bridal robes were weeds of death; And o'er her pale, cold brow, was hung The damp sepulchral icy wreath. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A REPUBLIC! by EDGAR LEE MASTERS I, TOO by JAMES LANGSTON HUGHES THE MOWER'S SONG by ANDREW MARVELL THE HEART KNOWETH ITS OWN BITTERNESS' (2) by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI SONNET: 78 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE |