Poems (Edwards)/"Forget Me Not"
"FORGET ME NOT."
She sat and sang, "Forget me not," That sweet and touching strain,And as the music floated off, In a melodious chain,Our hearts grew sad, and o'er our souls There came a solemn spell,And with the harmony of sound, Our bosoms rose and fell,As through our minds there stole the thought, The saddening thought that we,Who met in joy so fondly then, Would soon forgotten be.
Forgotten, aye, by those we loved, The gentle and the pure,Forgotten, like a wave that breaks Upon the sounding shore, Forgotten, like the blighted leaves That in the forest fall,Forgotten by the friends we loved, Forgotten, aye, by all;Alas! alas! what deeper woe "Could o'er the spirit come,Than this forgetfulness? The thought Is shadowed with the tomb.
She sat and sang "Forget me not," We gathered round her chair,The kind, the true, the gentle ones, The beautiful were there;Our hearts were sad, for O! we felt, We would be parted soon,And mournfully our aching hearts Kept swelling with the tune;And every eye was dimmed with tears, And grief was on each soul,And smothered sighs from every breast, In sweet accordance stole.
Then suddenly the clouds dispersed, And through the open door,A sunbeam bright came dancing in, All beautiful and pure;And like a promise tenderly, It rested on us there,And flitted, like a "thing of life," Around the Singer's chair;It lingered for a moment there, Then vanished with the strain,And whispered as it floated off, "You all shall meet again."