Poems (Dodd)/The Warning
For works with similar titles, see Warning.
THE WARNING.
How often when we would be gay, amid surrounding mirth,Will a weight bear our spirits down to the dull things of earth;And the heart feels mid joyous scenes with sudden sadness bowed,As o'er the sunny landscape passes the darkening cloud.
Is not the presence felt, of those who unseen round us stay?The guardian spirits of the dead watching our devious way;And do we not, when saddened thus, their gentle voices hear,Warning us kindly, to prepare for evils hovering near?
I knew a fair and gentle girl, all tenderness and truth,Who saw the dark grave close above the idol of her youth;Bright hopes of heaven and holy things within her heart were strong,And all who loved her, sadly thought the flower would fade ere long.
"Come, Anna, love!" her mother said, "leave thou the pale moonlight,And bind the wreath upon thy brow to meet the gay tonight.I would not have thee musing here within thy bower alone,But lend thy light step to the dance, thy voice to music's tone."
"Oh, mother, dearest! urge me not to mingle with the gay;A loved voice from the spirit-land is calling me away;I will not bring a pale cheek there, for I have read my doom,And if I wreath my locks to-night, I wreath them for the tomb."
To seek the lone and lovely one, the mother left the crowd,And soon a voice of agony was heard in wailing loud;For fair as a night-folded flower she found her sleeping there,With a sweet smile upon her lips and roses in her hair.