Landon in The Literary Gazette 1831/The Hermit’s Grave
9
Literary Gazette, 24th September, 1831, Page 620
ORIGINAL POETRY.
THE HERMIT'S GRAVE.
The days are gone when pilgrims knelt
By sacred spot or shrine;
The cells where saints have lived or died
No more are held divine:
The bough of palm, the scallop-shell,
Are signs of faith no more;
The common grave is holy held,
As that on Salem's shore.
Yet, when I knew that human knee
Had worn the rock away,
And that here, even at my feet,
Earth hid the righteous clay;
I felt this was no common spot
For any common thought—
The place's own calm sanctity
Within my spirit wrought.
The cave was dark and damp—it spoke
Of penance and of prayer:
Remorse that scarcely dared to hope,
And heavy grief, were there.
But at the entrance was a scene,
Which seemed expressly given
To bring the heart again to earth,
Yet win it back to heaven.
For so benign an influence
Was falling from the sky,
And, like a blessing on the land,
The sunshine seemed to lie.
The long green grass was full of life,
And so was every tree;
On every bough there was a bud,
In every bud a bee.
And life hath such a gladdening power,
Thus in its joy arrayed—
The God who made the world so fair
Must love what he has made.
Fed by the silver rains, a brook
Went murmuring along,
And to its music, from the leaves,
The birds replied in song;
And, white as ever lily grew,
A wilding broom essayed
To fling upon the sunny wave
A transitory shade.
Misty and grey as morning skies,
Mid which their summits stood,
The ancient cliffs encompassed round
The lovely solitude.
It was a scene where faith would take
Lessons from all it saw,
And feel amid its depths, that hope
Was God's and Nature's law.
The past might here be wept away—
The future might renew
Its early confidence on high,
When years and sins were few.
Till, in the strength of penitence
To the worst sinner given,
The grave would seem a resting-place
Between this world and heaven.
'Tis but a pious memory
That lingers in this dell,
That human tears, and human prayers,
Have sanctified the cell.
Save for that memory, all we see
Were only some fair scene,
Not linked unto our present time
By aught that e'er had been.
But now a moral influence
Is on that small grey stone;
For who e'er watched another's grave
And thought not of his own,
And felt that all his trust in life
Was leaning on a reed?
And who can hear of prayer and faith
And not confess their need?
If he who sleeps beneath thought years
Of prayer might scarce suffice
To reconcile his God, and win
A birthright in the skies,
What may we hope who hurry on
Through life's tumultuous day,
And scarcely give one little hour
To heaven upon our way?
Thou blessed grave! ah, not in vain
Has been thy presence here,
If it hath wrought in any heart
One higher hope or fear.
L. E. L.