FROM a bright hearth-stone of our land, A beam hath pass'd away, A smile, whose cheering influence seem'd Like morning to the day; A sacrificing spirit With innate goodness fraught, That ever for another's weal Employ'd its fervid thought. That beam is gather'd back again To the Pure Fount of flame, That smile the Blessed Source hath found, From whence its radiance came, -- That spirit hath a genial clime; And yet, methinks, 't will bend Sometimes, amid familiar haunts, Beside the mourning friend. Yet better 't were to pass away, Ere evening shadows fell, To wrap in chillness, and decay, What here was loved so well; And strew unwither'd flowers around, When the last footsteps part, And leave in every nook of home, Sweet memories for the heart. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BOTTLES AND THE WINE by GEORGE SANTAYANA TURTLE SOUP by CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON A SONNET, TO THE NOBLE LADY, THE LADY MARY WROTH by BEN JONSON ODE [ON THE POETS] by JOHN KEATS MONNA INNOMINATA, A SONNET OF SONNETS: 9 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI BORDER BALLAD [OR MARCH, OR SONG], FR. THE MONASTERY by WALTER SCOTT |