Elegiac Stanzas
Supposed to Be Written by Julia, on the Death of Her Brother
Though sorrow long has worn my heart;
Though every day I’ve, counted o’er
Hath brought a new and, quickening smart
To wounds that rankled fresh before;
Though in my earliest life bereft
Of tender links by nature tied;
Though hope deceived, and pleasure left;
Though friends betrayed and foes belied;
I still had hopes—for hope will stay
After the sunset of delight;
So like the star which ushers day,
We scarce can think it heralds night!—
I hoped that, after all its strife,
My weary heart at length should rest.
And, feinting from the waves of life,
Find harbor in a brother’s breast.
That brother’s breast was warm with truth,
Was bright with honor’s purest ray;
He was the dearest, gentlest youth—
Ah, why then was he torn away?
He should have stayed, have lingered here
To soothe his Julia’s every woe;
He should have chased each bitter tear,
And not have caused those tears to flow.
We saw within his soul expand
The fruits of genius, nurst by taste;
While Science, with a fostering hand,
Upon his brow her chaplet placed.
We saw, by bright degrees, his mind
Grow rich in all that makes men dear;
Enlightened, social, and refined,
In friendship firm, in love sincere.
Such was the youth we loved so well,
And such the hopes that fate denied;—
We loved, but ah! could scarcely tell
How deep, how dearly, till he died!
Close as the fondest links could strain,
Twined with my very heart he grew;
And by that fate which breaks the chain,
The heart is almost broken too.