TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF MY DEAR AND HONORED FATHER,COL. HARPER P. HUNT,OF VICKSBURG, MISS., WHO DIED JANUARY 28, 1876, AGED 62 YEARS 11 MONTHS AND 27 DAYS.
Alone in the bitterest sorrow, I stand in my twilighted room,Girding my strength for the future, Striving to face all its gloom.O God! can it be that my father— My very best friend after God—Lies pulseless and cold in the valley, Low under the emerald sod;With the earth in its horrible freshness All heavily heaped on his chest,And the hands that so tenderly blessed me Folded and still on his breast!
Never more to uphold nor caress me, To be all my strength and my stay,When Fate lays her heavy hands on me, And griefs thicken over my way.
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