Earth s mightiest powers fall or rise,
No tear is wept to thee unknown,
Nor hair is lost, nor sparrow dies!
That thou canst stay the ruthless hand
Of dark disease, and soothe its pain;
That only by thy stern command
The battle s lost, the soldier s slain;
That from the distant sea or land
Thou bring st the wanderer home again!
And when upon her pillow lone
Her tear-wet cheek is sadly pressed,
May happier visions beam upon
The brightening currents of her breast,
Nor frowning look, nor angry tone,
Disturb the sabbath of her rest!
Whatever fate those forms may throw,
Loved with a passion almost wild
By day, by night in joy, or woe
By fears oppressed, or hopes beguiled
From every danger, every foe,
Oh! God! protect my wife and child!
JAMES MATTHEWS LEGAR&
[James Matthews Legare was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1823. Very little is known of him beyond the fact that he in vented several appliances which failing health prevented him from perfecting, and that he contributed poetry to the magazines. His single volume of verse, " Orta-Undis, and Other Poems," was pub lished in 1848. He died in Aiden, South Carolina, in 1859.]
