Classic Poem

1.

A Lady came to a snow-white bier,
Where a youth lay pale and dead;
She took the veil from her widowed head,
And, bending low, in his ear she said —
Awaken! for I am here.

2.

She pass'd with a smile to a wild wood near,
Where the boughs were barren and bare;
She tapp'd on the bark with her fingers fair,
And call'd to the leaves that were buried there —
Awaken! for I am here.

3.

The birds beheld her without a fear
As she walk'd through the dank-moss'd dells;
She breathed on their downy citadels,
And whisper'd the young in their ivory shells —
Awaken! for I am here.

4.

On the graves of the flowers she dropp'd a tear,
But with hope and with joy, like us;
And even as the Lord to Lazarus,
She call'd to the slumbering sweet flowers thus —
Awaken! for I am here.

5.

To the lilies that lay in the silver mere,
To the reeds by the golden pond;
To the moss by the rounded marge beyond,
She spoke, with her voice so soft and fond —
Awaken! for I am here.

6.

The violet peep'd, with its blue eye clear,
From under its own gravestone;
For the blessed tidings around had flown,
And before she spoke, the impulse was known —
Awaken! for I am here.

7.

The pale grass lay with its long locks sere
On the breast of the open plain;
She loosened the matted hair of the slain,
And cried, as she filled each juicy vein —
Awaken! for I am here.

8.

The rush rose up, with its pointed spear;
The flag, with its falchion broad;
The dock uplifted its shield unawed,
As her voice ran clear through the quickening sod —
Awaken! for I am here.

9.

The red blood ran through the clover near,
And the heath on the hills o'erhead;
The daisy's fingers were tipp'd with red,
As she started to life, when the Lady said —
Awaken! for I am here.

10.

And the young Year rose from his snow-white bier,
And the flowers from their green retreat;
And they came and knelt at the Lady's feet,
Saying all, with their mingled voices sweet —
O Lady! behold us here.