When plaintive birds lament, and gently bend
To Summer's balmy breath the verdant bowers,
And softly murmuring chrystal waters wend
Their winding way through banks of fragrant flowers,
Oft as I sit and frame my pensive lay,
She who has set on Earth, in Heaven to rise,
I see and hear — for still though far away
She lives, and marks and answers to my sighs.
" Why prematurely thus consume thy years? "
She asks with tender voice. — " And wherefore claim
From eyes long sad, more streams of burning tears?
Weep not for me! for dying I became
Immortal — closing earthly eyes and ears
To wake in bliss — full, endless, and the same![ " ]