Memoria In terna.

Sweet Memory! thou faculty divine--     Triumphant o'er the cruel hand of Time!     On thy tablets we may trace     The lines his fingers ne'er efface,     And take with us till latest day     The images that light our way,     And picture thus in a shadowy form     The loved and lost he's from us torn--     Their lids by Death so early sealed--     Life's crimson tide by him congealed--     The tyrant has not all concealed--     They in thy mirror still revealed!     Before the morning sunbeams kissed     The face of Nature--veiled in mist--     And heralded with golden ray     The opening of the perfect day--     Ere yet the sable shades of night     At dawn's approach had winged their flight--     We've listed to the whispering breeze     That's wafted o'er the trembling trees,     And seemed to hear the voices sweet     Of loved ones now we ne'er can meet     Till earthly night shall pass away--     Supplanted by immortal day!     And thus in retrospective mood,     Alone with Nature's solitude     In some secluded sylvan dell,     Her myriad voices float and swell     And flitting shadows softly tell     Of dear ones lost--yet loved so well!     Then to the sunny home where dwelt--     (Ere yet the envious tyrant dealt     The blow that blighted hopes have felt)--     Fond fancy wanders, and can see     Once happy scenes that ne'er can be     Lost in thy shades, O Memory!     But those to us so cruelly denied     Are drifting now upon some fairer tide--     Their scattered ashes on Hope's pinions rise     And people realms beyond the azure skies!     Then may our faltering footsteps lead     To where fond hearts may never bleed--     Where vanished faces, cherished forms,     Are anchored safe from life's rude storms;     Where strains seraphic, soft and low,     The rapt ear greet, and we shall know     The loved and lost we only see     In visions of sweet Memory!