Love’s Last Words
THEY knew that she was going
To holier, better spheres,
Yet they could not stay the flowing
Of their tears;
And they bent above in sorrow,
Like mourners o’er a tomb,
For they knew that on the morrow
There’d be gloom.
There was one among the number
Who had watched the dying’s breath,
With an eye that would not slumber
Until death.
There, as he bent above her,
He whispered in her ear
How fondly he did love her,
Her most dear.
“One word, ’t will comfort send me,
When early spring appears,
And o’er thy grave I bend me
In my tears.
A single word now spoken
Shall be kept in Memory’s shrine,
Where the dearest treasured token
Shall be thine.”
She pressed his hand-she knew him-
With the fervor of a child;
And, looking fondly to him,
Sweetly smiled.
And, smiling thus, she started
For her glorious home above,
And her last breath, as it parted,
Whispered “Love.”