Poems Sigourney 1834/Scene at the Death-bed of the Rev. Dr. Payson
SCENE AT THE DEATH-BED OF THE REVEREND DR. PAYSON.
"The eye spoke after the tongue became motionless. Looking on his wife, and glancing over the others who surrounded his bed, it rested on his eldest son. with an expression, which was interpreted by all present to say, as plainly as if he had uttered the words of the beloved disciple— 'Behold thy mother.'"
Memoir of the Reverend Edward Payson.
What said the eye? The marble lip spake not,
Save in that quivering sob with which stern Death
Doth crush life's harp-strings. Lo! again it pours
A tide of more than uttered eloquence,—
"Son! look upon thy mother," and retires
Beneath the curtain of the drooping lids
To hide itself for ever. 'Tis the last—
Last glance!—and ah! how tenderly it fell
Upon that loved companion and the groups
Who wept around. Full well the dying knew
The value of those holy charities
Which purge the dross of selfishness away;
And deep he felt that woman's trusting heart,
Rent from the cherished prop which, next to Christ,
Had been her stay in all adversities,
Would take the balm-cup best from that dear hand
Which woke the sources of maternal love;
That smile whose winning paid for sleepless nights
Of cradle-care, that voice whose murmured tones
Her own had moulded to the words of prayer.
How soothing to a widowed mother's breast,
Her first-born's sympathy.
Be strong, young man!
Lift the protector's arm, the healer's prayer—
Be tender in thy every word and deed,
A Spirit watcheth thee! Yes, He who past
From shaded earth up to the full orbed day
Will be thy witness in the court of heaven
How thou dost bear his mantle. So farewell,
Leader in Israel! Thou whose radiant path
Was like the angel's standing*[1] in the sun,
Undazzled and unswerving, it was meet
That thou should'st rise to light without a cloud.
- ↑ * Revelations, xix. 17.