Like one revived, upon his neck I wept,
And her whom he had loved in joy, he said
He well could love in grief; his faith he kept;
And in a quiet home once more my father slept.
Four years
each day with daily bread was blest,
By constant toil and constant prayer supplied.
Three lovely infants lay upon my breast,
And often, viewing their sweet smiles, I sighed
And knew not why. My happy father died
When sad distress reduced the children's meal:
Thrice happy! that from him the grave did hide
The empty loom, cold hearth, and silent wheel,
And tears that flowed for ills which patience
could not heal..
"Twas a hard change, an evil time was come; We had no hope, and no relief could gain. But soon, with proud parade, the noisy drum Beat round, to sweep the streets of want and pain.
My husband's arms now only served to strain
Me and his children, hungering in his view:
In such dismay my prayers and tears were vain,
To join those miserable men he flew ;
And now to the sea-coast, with numbers more,.
we drew.
There foul neglect for months and months we bore,
Nor yet the crowded fleet its anchor stirred. Green fields before us and our native shore; By fever, from polluted air incurred,
Ravage was made, for which no knell was heard. Fondly we wished, and wished away, nor knew, 'Mid that long sickness, and those hopes deferr'd That happier days we never more must view: The parting signal streamed at last, the land withdrew.
But from delay the summer calms were past.
On as we drove, the equinoctial deep
Ran mountains-high before the howling blast:
We gazed with terror on the gloomy sleep
Of them that perished in the whirlwind's sweep,
Untaught that soon such anguish must ensue,
Our hopes such harvest of affliction reap,
That we the
of the waves should rue:
We reached the western world, a poor, de-
Oh! dreadful price of Being to resign
All that is dear in being! better far
In Want's most lonely cave till death to pine,
Unseen, unheard, unwatch'd by any star;
Or in the streets and walks where proud men are,
Better our dying bodies to obtrude,
Than dog-like, wading at the heels of war,
Protract a curs'd existence, with the brood That lap (their very nourishment!) their brother's blood!
The pains and plagues that on our heads came down,
Disease and famine, agony and fear,
In wood or wilderness, in camp or town,
It would thy brain unsettle even to hear.
All perished?—all, in one remorseless year;*
Husband and children! one by one, by sword
And ravenous plague, all perished! every tear
Dried up, despairing, desolate, on board
A British ship I waked, as from a trance restored.
Peaceful as some immeasurable plain
By the first beams of dawning light impress'd,
In the calm sunshine slept the glittering main:
The very ocean has its hour of rest,
That comes not to the human mourner's breast.
Remote from man, and storms of mortal care,
A heavenly silence did the waves invest;
I looked and looked along the silent air,
Until it seemed to bring a joy to my despair.
Ah! how unlike those late terrific sleeps! And groans, that rage of racking famine spoke, Where looks inhuman dwelt on festering heaps! The breathing pestilence that rose like smoke! The shriek that from the distant battle broke!
The mine's dire earthquake, and the pallid host Driven by the bombs incessant thunder-stroke To loathsome vaults, where heart-sick anguish toss'd,
Hope died, and fear itself in agony was lost!.
Yet does that burst of woe congeal my frame, When the dark streets appeared to heave and gape,
While like a sea the storming army came, And Fire from Hell reared his gigantic shape, And Murder, by the ghastly gleam, and Rape Seized their joint prey, the mother and the child!
But from these crazing thoughts my brain, escape!
-For weeks the balmy air breathed soft and mild,
And on the gliding vessel Heaven and Ocean smiled.
Some mighty gulph of separation past,
I seemed transported to another world:→
A thought resigned with pain, when from the
The impatient mariner the sail unfurl'd,
And whistling, called the wind that hardly curled
The silent sea. From the sweet thoughts of home,
And from all hope I was for ever hurled.
For me!-farthest from earthly port to roam
Was best, could I but shun the spot where
Man might come.
And oft, robb'd of my perfect mind, I thought
At last my feet a resting-place had found:
Here will I weep in peace (so fancy wrought)
Roaming the illimitable waters round;
Here watch, of every human friend disowned,
All day, my ready tomb the ocean-flood-
To break my dream the vessel reached its bound:
And homeless near a thousand homes I stood;
And near a thousand tables pined, and wanted
food.
By grief enfeebled was I turned adrift,
Helpless as sailor cast on desart rock;
Nor morsel to my mouth that day did lift,
Nor dared my hand at any door to knock.
I lay, where, with his drowsy mates, the cock
From the cross timber of an out-house:hung;
How dismal tolled, that night, the city clock!
At morn my sick heart hunger scarcely stung,
Nor to the beggar's language could I frame
my tongue.
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