Page:Poems Rice.djvu/139

TO THE FUTURE OCCUPANT OF MY HOME AT MELROSE.

GENTLE lady, after sealing
 I would write a simple line;
Not without emotion, feeling,
 While I by this act resign;
Destiny there's no defying,
 It is done, the Deed is sealed;
Many memories undying—
 These my heart can never yield.

How upon a theme so tender
 Can I trust my heart to-day,
While my home to thee I render,
 Tell thee all I wish to say?
This is anguish never sounded,
 Never till to-day before;
This is sadness, grief unbounded,
 Reaching.to my bosom's core.

Gentle lady, if I falter,
 Pardon—this is hard to bear—
Yielding up my home, my altar,
 Dear to me beyond compare;