Poems (Griffith)/The Young Mother
The Young Mother.
AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED TO MRS. L. A. W., OF LITTLE ROCK.
OH how serenely soft that pale high brow,
O'er which her clustering tresses stray, her eye,
Dissolving in its sweet blue tenderness,
As from its depths a mother's holy love
Is gleaming like the light of heaven, her lips
Just parted as the low and earnest prayer
Of angel purity dies soft away
In wild, sweet music. O'er her infant now
In slumber "lightly bound," her gentle form
Is bending low, while blessed, heaven-born hopes
Are beaming forth from her unshadowed heart,
And lighting up her pale and placid face
As beautifully as the sunlight glows
And trembles through a holy crystal fane.
Close to her breast, her gently throbbing breast,
Her young babe nestles as a thought of love
Clings to the human soul. One little hand
Is pressed in hers, and now a soft sweet smile
Is stealing o'er its lovely cherub-face.
Gently she whispers to it of its dear
And absent father, and the tear-drop bright
Is quivering on her eyelid like the dew
On the blue violet's petal. And when soft
Sweet slumber folds its calm, mysterious wing
Upon her cherub's little breast, its quick
Low breathings fall upon her listening ear
Like notes of heaven.
O'er which her clustering tresses stray, her eye,
Dissolving in its sweet blue tenderness,
As from its depths a mother's holy love
Is gleaming like the light of heaven, her lips
Just parted as the low and earnest prayer
Of angel purity dies soft away
In wild, sweet music. O'er her infant now
In slumber "lightly bound," her gentle form
Is bending low, while blessed, heaven-born hopes
Are beaming forth from her unshadowed heart,
And lighting up her pale and placid face
As beautifully as the sunlight glows
And trembles through a holy crystal fane.
Close to her breast, her gently throbbing breast,
Her young babe nestles as a thought of love
Clings to the human soul. One little hand
Is pressed in hers, and now a soft sweet smile
Is stealing o'er its lovely cherub-face.
Gently she whispers to it of its dear
And absent father, and the tear-drop bright
Is quivering on her eyelid like the dew
On the blue violet's petal. And when soft
Sweet slumber folds its calm, mysterious wing
Upon her cherub's little breast, its quick
Low breathings fall upon her listening ear
Like notes of heaven.
Young mother, 'tis thy first
Bright joy, thy first deep care—oh may it prove
Thy latest blessing. Since we parted last
Full many changes have passed o'er our lives,
New ties around thy pure and noble heart
Are twining, and they give to thy young life
A bright wild charm. Thus may it ever be
To thee—may all the bright and glittering links,
Which hold thee here a happy prisoner
On Time's dark shore, still form a blessed chain
To bind thy spirit also to the loved
Within the angel world. Ah, I can look
With tearful joy upon thy added ties
To life, and feel within my heart my own
Are lessening fast. Oh may thy bud of love
Expand, and prove thy deep heart's sweetest flower,
And may ye both, in God's own Paradise,
Be glorious blossoms on His Tree of Life.
Bright joy, thy first deep care—oh may it prove
Thy latest blessing. Since we parted last
Full many changes have passed o'er our lives,
New ties around thy pure and noble heart
Are twining, and they give to thy young life
A bright wild charm. Thus may it ever be
To thee—may all the bright and glittering links,
Which hold thee here a happy prisoner
On Time's dark shore, still form a blessed chain
To bind thy spirit also to the loved
Within the angel world. Ah, I can look
With tearful joy upon thy added ties
To life, and feel within my heart my own
Are lessening fast. Oh may thy bud of love
Expand, and prove thy deep heart's sweetest flower,
And may ye both, in God's own Paradise,
Be glorious blossoms on His Tree of Life.
Louisville, June 2d.