STANZAS.
31
STANZAS.
[SUGGESTED BY THE DEATH OF CHARLOTTE CANDA.][*]
I stood beside the bed of death, A stranger who had come to seeHow one so fair might look whose breath Was yielded up in agony:And as I gazed I'wept for her Who lay so coldly quiet there:—Such griefs all human hearts should stir,— Such griefs all human hearts should share.
No trace of anguish marked her face, It bore not e'en the look of death,But seemed so fresh and full of grace, I almost listened for her breath!Around her pure white brow was twined A simple wreath of snowy flowers;Mute emblems of her spotless mind,— She wore them in her living hours!
Upon her face—sweet type of rest!— Lingered a calm and holy smile,As on the frozen streamlet's breast The fading sunbeam sleeps awhile.It seemed as if her soul had caught, A moment ere it passed away,A glimpse of heavenly joys, which wrought Its impress on the yielding clay.
↑ * A lovely young lady, who was thrown from a carriage and instantly killed while returning from an evening party in N. Y. City many years since. Her grave in Greenwood Cemetery is marked by a very elaborate and beautiful monument of Italian marble.
