Classic Poem

There was a pale and shrinking flower,
Which blossom'd in a wintry hour,
When every bud of brighter bloom,
Had met with an autumnal doom:
It burst beneath a freezing sky,
Open'd, to wither and to die;
All faintly bright, and dimly fair,
It courted the inclement air;
And pour'd a dying fragrance round,
Then shed its frail leaves on the ground.

Even so, I saw misfortune's child,
Amid a blast as bleak and wild,
Tender as that forsaken flower,
And shivering in a stormy hour;
No parent on whose faithful breast,
The little head might lie at rest,
With none to wipe the infant tear,
Give the caress, and call it dear;
Without a single hand to save
Its victim from a timeless grave.
I saw it bloom, I saw it fade,
And weeping gave my childish aid;
In vain—its ruddy cheek grew pale,
It could not bear the wintry gale;
It faded—each succeeding day
Carried some lingering hope away,
Till low it laid its little head,
And like that wan flower perished.
Yet tho' I shed the frequent tear
Over its young and timeless bier,
With gentler grief I now deplore,
For all its infant woes are o'er,
And 'neath this soft and grassy mound,
While summer flowrets spring around,
Peace shall her silent vigil keep,
And guard the infant's quiet sleep,
Till rais'd to bloom a fadeless flower
Within heaven's calm and blissful bower.

There was a pale and shrinking flower,
Which blossom'd in a wintry hour,
When every bud of brighter bloom,
Had met with an autumnal doom:
It burst beneath a freezing sky,
Open'd, to wither and to die;
All faintly bright, and dimly fair,
It courted the inclement air;
And pour'd a dying fragrance round,
Then shed its frail leaves on the ground.

Even so, I saw misfortune's child,
Amid a blast as bleak and wild,
Tender as that forsaken flower,
And shivering in a stormy hour;
No parent on whose faithful breast,
The little head might lie at rest,
With none to wipe the infant tear,
Give the caress, and call it dear;
Without a single hand to save
Its victim from a timeless grave.
I saw it bloom, I saw it fade,
And weeping gave my childish aid;
In vain—its ruddy cheek grew pale,
It could not bear the wintry gale;
It faded—each succeeding day
Carried some lingering hope away,
Till low it laid its little head,
And like that wan flower perished.
Yet tho' I shed the frequent tear
Over its young and timeless bier,
With gentler grief I now deplore,
For all its infant woes are o'er,
And 'neath this soft and grassy mound,
While summer flowrets spring around,
Peace shall her silent vigil keep,
And guard the infant's quiet sleep,
Till rais'd to bloom a fadeless flower
Within heaven's calm and blissful bower.