Poems (McDonald)/Ten Years Ago
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Ten years ago! a weary age it seems
To look ten years beyond the present hour;
But when far down the lengthened hill of Time,
We cast a backward glance at some far point
Our pilgrim feet ten years before had left—
How easily the retrospective eye
May span the pathway:—but a moment's flight
Hath marked the parted hours, and memory asks,
Half cheated of her power, the scattered leaves,
Where, with recording pencil, she hath writ
The pains or pleasures of that by-gone time.
Ten years ago! it seems but yesterday!
And I remember then, a happy girl,
Upon whose face the world had cast no care,
Stood at the altar-side, and gave her heart
With all its hoarded wealth of tenderness
To one who long had loved her. They had grown
Together like young plants; and when the world
Deemed them as children, or spoke jestingly
Of that, which, to their young untroubled hearts
Was light, and dew, and sunshine—they had vowed
With the deep fervor of a deathless love,
To wander hand in hand through life's long way,
To launch their bark together on the waves,
And to one haven steer their onward course.
Little they recked of peril and of storm—
They had exchanged that high and holy faith
Which angels bless, and with a perfect trust
In all the fairy promises of Hope,
They deemed an angel's wing would shelter them
From the rude billow's chiding.
TEN YEARS AGO.
"Too soon, Oh! all too soon will come
In later years the spell,
Touching with changing hues the path
Where once but sunlight fell.
Frances S. Osgood.
In later years the spell,
Touching with changing hues the path
Where once but sunlight fell.
Frances S. Osgood.
Ten years ago! a weary age it seems
To look ten years beyond the present hour;
But when far down the lengthened hill of Time,
We cast a backward glance at some far point
Our pilgrim feet ten years before had left—
How easily the retrospective eye
May span the pathway:—but a moment's flight
Hath marked the parted hours, and memory asks,
Half cheated of her power, the scattered leaves,
Where, with recording pencil, she hath writ
The pains or pleasures of that by-gone time.
Ten years ago! it seems but yesterday!
And I remember then, a happy girl,
Upon whose face the world had cast no care,
Stood at the altar-side, and gave her heart
With all its hoarded wealth of tenderness
To one who long had loved her. They had grown
Together like young plants; and when the world
Deemed them as children, or spoke jestingly
Of that, which, to their young untroubled hearts
Was light, and dew, and sunshine—they had vowed
With the deep fervor of a deathless love,
To wander hand in hand through life's long way,
To launch their bark together on the waves,
And to one haven steer their onward course.
Little they recked of peril and of storm—
They had exchanged that high and holy faith
Which angels bless, and with a perfect trust
In all the fairy promises of Hope,
They deemed an angel's wing would shelter them
From the rude billow's chiding.
They were wed.
I do remember that bright morning hour
Of sunny May, and the fair company
Of bridal guests; and still, roethinks, I hear
Voices of gratulation, and kind words
From loving hearts, and a fond blessing breathed
From lips parental, as together passed
That youthful pair adown the sacred aisle:
So blessed to find their dream of joy fulfilled,
They asked no boon beside.
I do remember that bright morning hour
Of sunny May, and the fair company
Of bridal guests; and still, roethinks, I hear
Voices of gratulation, and kind words
From loving hearts, and a fond blessing breathed
From lips parental, as together passed
That youthful pair adown the sacred aisle:
So blessed to find their dream of joy fulfilled,
They asked no boon beside.
And o'er them rolled,
From that auspicious hour, ten happy years.
How swift, when joy hath winged them, do they fly—
How slowly creep along their destined course,
When leaden-footed Sorrow drags them on.
But with the beings of my history,
The sunlit hours on golden pinions flew.
There were no clouds to dim their tranquil sky—
No storms to fright them—no wild waves to dash
The fragile bark whose helm Affection ruled;—
And when a blue-eyed babe upon them smiled
In its young beauty, like a bud of heaven,
Life's cup of blessedness seemed brimmed for
'Till the pure sparkling waters must o'erflow.
Ten years! ten years! all numbered with the past!
And the revolving months again have brought
That nuptial day. But where are now the hearts
So closely linked? They have been parted!
He is reposing by the church's side,
And she is widowed. In her lonely home,
With her eye fixed upon the weeping clouds,
Which seem to give their tears in sympathy,
And her fair orphan boy beside her knee,
She muses on the past—recalls fair forms,
And faded scenes, and days of happiness,
And looks of love, and words of holy trust—
And asks her heart if it indeed be true
That she has lost them all.
From that auspicious hour, ten happy years.
How swift, when joy hath winged them, do they fly—
How slowly creep along their destined course,
When leaden-footed Sorrow drags them on.
But with the beings of my history,
The sunlit hours on golden pinions flew.
There were no clouds to dim their tranquil sky—
No storms to fright them—no wild waves to dash
The fragile bark whose helm Affection ruled;—
And when a blue-eyed babe upon them smiled
In its young beauty, like a bud of heaven,
Life's cup of blessedness seemed brimmed for
'Till the pure sparkling waters must o'erflow.
Ten years! ten years! all numbered with the past!
And the revolving months again have brought
That nuptial day. But where are now the hearts
So closely linked? They have been parted!
He is reposing by the church's side,
And she is widowed. In her lonely home,
With her eye fixed upon the weeping clouds,
Which seem to give their tears in sympathy,
And her fair orphan boy beside her knee,
She muses on the past—recalls fair forms,
And faded scenes, and days of happiness,
And looks of love, and words of holy trust—
And asks her heart if it indeed be true
That she has lost them all.
A widow's grief!
There are no words can speak it. He who gave
A language unto man, gave him no power
To syllable such sorrow. They had loved
Too ardently for those whom death must sever—
Loved, 'till the full o'erladen heart had throbbed
With all its weight of untold tenderness.
He had been more than all the world to her,
The idol in the temple of her soul,
The radiant star that in her cloudless heaven
Beamed with a light above its fellow stars.
She had hung proudly on his gifted words,
When others deemed she scarce had heard their flow.,
Or drank, as from a fount of purest wave,
The gushing love poured on her ear alone.
Ah! she had prized the gift too far above
The bounteous Giver—garnered up her love
In a clay casket—leaned upon a reed
Frail as a willow-twig, yet breaking, pierced
The heart which clung to it. And God had known,
How at an altar consecrate to Him,
She burned sweet incense for a mortal shrine,
And now to draw her spirit heavenward,
Severed the golden chain which bound her here,
And placed her idol nearer to Himself,
To lure her onward to the better land.
There are no words can speak it. He who gave
A language unto man, gave him no power
To syllable such sorrow. They had loved
Too ardently for those whom death must sever—
Loved, 'till the full o'erladen heart had throbbed
With all its weight of untold tenderness.
He had been more than all the world to her,
The idol in the temple of her soul,
The radiant star that in her cloudless heaven
Beamed with a light above its fellow stars.
She had hung proudly on his gifted words,
When others deemed she scarce had heard their flow.,
Or drank, as from a fount of purest wave,
The gushing love poured on her ear alone.
Ah! she had prized the gift too far above
The bounteous Giver—garnered up her love
In a clay casket—leaned upon a reed
Frail as a willow-twig, yet breaking, pierced
The heart which clung to it. And God had known,
How at an altar consecrate to Him,
She burned sweet incense for a mortal shrine,
And now to draw her spirit heavenward,
Severed the golden chain which bound her here,
And placed her idol nearer to Himself,
To lure her onward to the better land.