Classic Poem

A DAUGHTER watched at midnight
Her dying mother's bed;
For five long nights she had not slept,
And many tears were shed:
A vision like an angel came,
Which none but her might see;
" Sleep, duteous child, " the angel said,
" And I will watch for thee! "

Sweet slumber like a blessing fell
Upon the daughter's face;
The angel smiled, and touched her not,
But gently took her place;
And oh, so full of human love
Those pitying eyes did shine,
The angel-guest half mortal seemed —
The slumberer half divine.

Like rays of light the sleeper's locks
In warm loose curls were thrown;
Like rays of light the angel's hair
Seemed like the sleeper's own.
A rose-like shadow on the cheek,
Dissolving into pearl;
A something in the angel's face
Seemed sister to the girl!

The mortal and immortal each
Reflecting each were seen;
The earthly and the spiritual
With death's pale face between.
O human love, what strength like thine?
From thee those prayers arise
Which, entering into Paradise,
Draw angels from the skies.

The dawn looked through the casement cold —
A wintry dawn of gloom,
And sadder showed the curtained bed, —
The still and sickly room:
" My daughter? — art thou there my child?
Oh, haste thee, love, come nigh,
That I may see once more thy face,
And bless thee, ere I die!

If ever I were harsh to thee,
Forgive me now, " she cried;
" God knows my heart, I loved thee most
When most I seemed to chide;
Now bend and kiss thy mother's lips,
And for her spirit pray! "
The angel kissed her; and her soul
Passed blissfully away!

A sudden start! — what dream, what sound,
The slumbering girl alarms?
She wakes — she sees her mother dead
Within the angel's arms!
She wakes — she springs with wild embrace —
But nothing there appears
Except her mother's sweet dead face —
Her own convulsive tears.