Poems (Rice)/To the Future Occupant of my Home at Melrose
TO THE FUTURE OCCUPANT OF MY HOME AT MELROSE.
GENTLE lady, after sealing I would write a simple line; Not without emotion, feeling, While I by this act resign; Destiny there's no defying, It is done, the Deed is sealed; Many memories undying— These my heart can never yield.
How upon a theme so tender Can I trust my heart to-day, While my home to thee I render, Tell thee all I wish to say? This is anguish never sounded, Never till to-day before; This is sadness, grief unbounded, Reaching.to my bosom's core.
Gentle lady, if I falter, Pardon—this is hard to bear—Yielding up my home, my altar, Dear to me beyond compare; Here are links which I must sever, Ties to break and yet be strong; In the path of duty ever, This shall cheer, to-day, my song.
Lady, oft alone thou'lt ponder On the beauty of each view, And thy mind be filled with wonder, It may thrill with rapture too; From the north and south extended, Every way which thou mayst turn, Nature's mysteries are blended, Something ever new to learn.
All these sacred pictures leaving, All I render unto thee; Still my heart to them is cleaving, Still they bear a charm for me; Scented groves and garden bowers, Vales I ne'er may see again, Mountains, rocks, and wild wood flowers— Language, ah, to-day is vain.
Gentle lady, from thy slumbers, When each morn thou dost awake, When the minstrels trill their numbers, A request I have to make,—To attend this feathered choir; Long with thee will they abide, Charming more than lute or lyre If thou wilt for them provide.
Still another I implore, Of importance more than this; When the needy at thy door, That they never me may miss; Of thy goods O give a share, Speak a tender word for me; While ascends my daily prayer, I will offer one for thee.
Like the Dove, alone and dreary, Henceforth from this Ark I go; Searching till my heart may weary For a resting-place below; Like the Dove of olden story, Happy would it be for me Should I find that peace, that glory, In that Ark, O God, with Thee.