Poems (Odom)/To Colonel T. L. Odom
TO COL. T. L. ODOM.
Into a valley of sombre shade, With never a ray of light,My sorrowful heart, all cold and dumb, Was wrapped in a starless night.
Where once an altar of roses stood In the light of a sun-lit day,The darkness lay on a silent shrine, The flowers had fallen away,
And over the marble death had crept Like mildew over a tomb,Even the ashes love had left Were lost in the chilling gloom,
When suddenly, flashing through the night, A star of the grandest powerThrew its radiant, brilliant light Over life's drooping flower;
And down on the pale-white altar fell A silvery, sparkling beam,My heart grew warm and my bosom stirred To the touch of a heavenly dream.
I watched the ashes gather again, And burst into vivid flame,While into my aching, sorrowful heart A gleam of its glory came;
As though some pitying angel rent The veiling of midnight cloud,Letting the light of a joyous hope Shine over my spirit's shroud.
And musical voices seemed to float On the breast of the silence there;Softly singing the song of love To the pulse of the sighing air.
The flame on the altar flashed and burned, The roses burst into bloom,Their fragrance fell on the marble shrine In showers of rare perfume.
A pure bright light has crowned again The circle of coming years.Thank God! my heart has drained at last Its chalice of grief and tears.