Classic Poem

I.

I saw her long by tortures torn,
I saw her to a shadow worn,
Marked her dim eye and sunken cheek,
And sighed to hear her feebly speak
Of all the passionate sorrow she had borne.

II.

And ah! 'twas bitterness to know,
That he who trembled by her side,
And held that moist hand shaking so,
Had pierced the heart he would have died
To shield from pangs by which that heart was tried.

III.

Her glassy eye still spoke the love
That warmed her dying heart's last beat;
And all the prayer she sent above,
Was that we might hereafter meet,
And, knowing nought of earthly woe,
Love on as we had loved below.