Hemans Miscellaneous Poetry 5/The Welcome to Death
Sharpe's London Magazine.
Museum of Foreign Literature and Science, 1829
Vol 15 page 408
From Sharpe's London Magazine.
THE WELCOME TO DEATH.
BY MRS. HEMANS.
"Shall I abide
In this dull world?
I have
Immortal longings in me!"
Antony and Cleopatra.
Thou art welcome, O thou warning voice,
My soul hath pined for thee;
Thou art welcome as sweet sounds from shore,
To wanderer on the sea.
I hear thee in the rustling woods,
In the sighing vernal airs;
Thou call'st me from the lonely earth,
With a deeper tone than theirs.
The lonely earth! since kindred steps
From its green paths are fled,
A dimness and a hush have fall'n
O'er all its beauty spread.
The silence of the' unanswering soul
Is on me and around;
My heart hath echoes but for thee,
Thou still small warning sound!
Voice after voice hath died away,
Once in my dwelling heard,
Sweet household name by name hath changed
To grief's forbidden word!
From dreams of night on each I call,
Each of the far removed;
And waken to my own wild cry,
Where are ye, my beloved?
Ye left me! and earth's flowers grew fill'd
With records of the past,
And stars pour'd down another light
Than o'er my youth they cast:
The skylark sings not as he sang
When ye were by my side,
And mournful tones are in the wind,
Unheard before ye died!
Thou art welcome, O thou summoner!
Why should the last remain?
What eye can reach my heart of hearts,
Bearing in light again?
Even could this be—too much of fear
O'er love would now be thrown—
Away, away! from time, from change,
To dwell amidst mine own!