Books: The Poetical Works of Mrs. Leprohon (Mrs. R.E. Mullins)
R >>
Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon >> The Poetical Works of Mrs. Leprohon (Mrs. R.E. Mullins)
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 | 10
Weary of life and its thorny ways,
She sought the friend of her early days:
"Mother, I bring thee a breaking heart,
In sorrows deep it hath borne a part;
Speak to me tenderly as of yore,
Let thy kiss rest on my brow once more;
To the joys of my girlhood back I flee,
To live alone for them and for thee!"
TO A YOUNG MOTHER ON THE BIRTH OF HER FIRST-BORN CHILD.
Young mother! proudly throbs thine heart, and well may it
rejoice,
Well may'st thou raise to Heaven above in grateful prayer thy
voice:
A gift hath been bestowed on thee, a gift of priceless worth,
Far dearer to thy woman's heart than all the wealth of earth.
What store of deep and holy joy is opened to thy thought--
Glad, sunny dreams of future days, with bliss and rapture
fraught;
Of hopes as varied, yet as bright, as beams of April sun,
And plans and wishes centred all within thy darling one!
While others seek in changing scenes earth's happiness to gain,
In fashion's halls to win a joy as dazzling as 'tis vain--
A bliss more holy far is thine, far sweeter and more deep,
To watch beside thine infant's couch and bend above his sleep.
What joy for thee to ling'ring gaze within those cloudless eyes,
Turning upon thee with a glance of such sweet, strange surprise,
Or press a mother's loving kiss upon that fair, white brow,
Of all earth's weight of sin and care and pain unconscious now.
Then, as thy loved one's sleeping breath so softly fans thy
cheek,
And gazing on that tiny form, so lovely, yet so weak,
A dream comes o'er thee of the time when nobly at thy side
Thy cherished son shall proudly stand, in manhood's lofty pride.
Yet a sad change steals slowly o'er thy tender, loving eye,
Thou twin'st him closer to thy heart, with fond and anxious sigh,
Feeling, however bright his course he too must suff'ring know,
Like all earth's children taste alike life's cup of care and woe.
But, oh! it lies within thy power to give to him a spell
To guard him in the darkest hour from sorrow safe and well;
Thou'lt find it in the narrow path the great and good have trod--
And thou thyself wilt teach it him--the knowledge of his God!
A CHILD'S TREASURES.
Thou art home at last, my darling one,
Flushed and tired with thy play,
From morning dawn until setting sun
Hast thou been at sport away;
And thy steps are weary--hot thy brow,
Yet thine eyes with joy are bright,--
Ah! I read the riddle, show me now
The treasures thou graspest tight.
A pretty pebble, a tiny shell,
A feather by wild bird cast,
Gay flowers gathered in forest dell,
Already withering fast,
Four speckled eggs in a soft brown nest,
Thy last and thy greatest prize,
Such the things that fill with joy thy breast,
With laughing light thine eyes.
Ah! my child, what right have I to smile
And whisper, too dearly bought,
By wand'ring many a weary mile--
Dust, heat, and toilsome thought?
For we, the children of riper years,
Task aching heart and brain,
Waste yearning hopes and anxious fears
On baubles just as vain.
For empty title, ribbon or star,
For worshipped and much-sought gold,
How men will struggle at home--afar--
And suffer toils untold;
Plodding their narrow and earth-bound way
Amid restless care and strife,
Wasting not merely a fleeting day,
But the precious years of life.
And thou, fair child, with to-morrow's dawn
Wilt rise up calm and glad,
To cull wild flowers 'mid wood and lawn,
Untroubled by memory sad;
But, alas! the worldly-wise of earth,
When life's last bonds are riven,
Will find that for things of meanest worth
They've lost both Life and Heaven.
TO A YOUNG GIRL WITH AN ALBUM.
Gentle Lily with this Album my warmest wishes take,
I know its pages oft thou'lt ope and prize it for my sake,
For, though a trifling offering, it bears the magic spell
Of coming from the hand of one who loves thee passing well.
O could thy young life's course be traced by will or wish of
mine,
A smiling, joyous future--a bright lot would be thine,
No cloud should mar the gladness of thy fair youth's op'ning
morn,
The roses of thy girlhood should be free from blight or thorn.
Howe'er, 'tis better ordered by a Blessed Power above
Who sends us cross and trial, as a token of His Love;
For we'd cling, ah! far too closely to earthly joys and ties,
Unwilling e'er to leave them for our home beyond the skies.
As the pages of this volume, unwritten, stainless, fair,
Life opens out before thee, let it be thine aim and care
To keep the record spotless, and ever free from all
That thou might'st wish hereafter remorseful to recall.
Not seeking to o'ershadow thy smiling azure eyes,
Nor see that girlish bosom heave with sad thoughts and sighs,
I would whisper low, while wishing thee, all earthly, cloudless
bliss,
Be life a preparation for a better life than this!
TIME'S CHANGES IN A HOUSEHOLD.
They grew together side by side,
They filled one house with glee
Their graves are severed far and wide--
By mountain stream and tree.
Mrs. Hemans
They were as fair and bright a band as ever filled with pride
Parental hearts whose task it was children beloved to guide;
And every care that love upon its idols bright may shower
Was lavished with impartial hand upon each fair young flower.
Theirs was the father's merry hour sharing their childish bliss,
The mother's soft breathed benison and tender, nightly kiss;
While strangers who by chance might see their joyous graceful
play,
To breathe some word of fondness kind would pause upon their way.
But years rolled on, and in their course Time many changes
brought,
And sorrow in that household gay his silent power wrought!
The sons had grown to gallant men of lofty heart and brow,
The fairy like and joyous girls were thoughtful women now.
The hour of changes had arrived, and slowly, one by one,
The playmates left the parent's roof, their own career to run;
The eldest born, the mother's choice, whose soft and holy smile
In childhood's days had told of heart as angel's free from guile.
Formed in resolve, and scorning all earth's pleasures and its
fame,
Had offered up his life to God, a teacher of His name:
His spirit sighed not long on earth, he found a quiet grave
'Mid forests wild whose shades he'd sought the Red man's soul to
save.
Far diff'rent was the stirring choice of his youthful brother
gay,
His was the glitt'ring sword and flag, the drum, the war steed's
neigh;
And the proud spirit that had marked his childhood's earliest
hour
Distinguished still the warrior brave in manhood's lofty power.
Alas for him, and visions vain of fame that lured him on,
An early grave in a distant land was the only goal he won!
His gaze bedimmed that yearned for home rested on alien skies,
And alien watchers wiped death's damps, and closed his dying
eyes.
A third with buoyant heart, had sought far India's burning soil,
Thinking to win wealth's treasures by a few years' eager toil,
But ere those years had sped their course, from earth's cares he
was free,--
He sleeps beneath the shadow of the date and mango tree.
But the sisters who had brightened once the home now desolate--
Lived they to mourn each brother's loss? was theirs a happier
fate?
In childhood's sports and youth's high dreams they'd borne a
happy part,
But severed they were doomed ere long in death to sleep apart.
The tall and dark-eyed girl whose laugh, so full of silvery glee,
Had ever told of spirit light, from care and shadow free,
Had early left her happy home, the bright and envied bride
Of a husband whose ancestral name betokened wealth and pride.
Alas for her who in youth's hour had basked in love's sunshine,
That husband stern deserted her in cold neglect to pine;
The merry smile soon fled her lip, the sparkling light her eye,
In vain she sought a southern clime, she only went to die.
And now of all the lovely band who'd joined in mirth of old,
There is, alas! but one sweet flower whose tale remains untold:
She was the joy, the pride of all, that gentle girl, and fair,--
With deep and dreamy azure eyes and shining golden hair.
E'en her bold brothers, in their youth, were gentle when she
played,
From reckless sports, from daring games their eager hands they
stayed;
And when amid their thoughtless mirth harsh feelings might awake,
They ever yielded to her prayers, and rested for her sake.
Oh! hers was far the brightest lot in life's eventful race!
She passed from earth ere care had left upon her brow one trace--
She passed from earth with loving ones grouped round her dying
bed,
And on a mother's tender breast rested her throbbing head.
'Twas thus that each beloved one of that bright joyous band,
Save her, had found a lonely grave in a far distant land;
Yet murmurs 'gainst high heaven's decrees as impious were as
vain--
For in far happier regions will that household meet again!
THE VOICES OF THE DEATH CHAMBER.
The night lamp is faintly gleaming
Within my chamber still,
And the heavy shades of midnight
Each gloomy angle fill,
And my worn and weary watchers
Scarce dare to move or weep,
For they think that I am buried
In deep and quiet sleep.
But, hush! what are those voices
Heard on the midnight air,
Of strange celestial sweetness,
Breathing of love and prayer?
Nearer they grow and clearer,
I hear now what they say--
To the Kingdom of God's glory,
They're calling me away!
See my gentle mother softly
To me approaches now,
What is the change she readeth
Upon my pale damp brow?
She clasps her hands in anguish
Whose depth no words might say?
Has she, too, heard the voices
That are calling me away?
The father fond of my children,
First sole love of my youth,
The loving, the gentle hearted,
And full of manly truth,
Is kneeling now beside me,
Beseeching me to stay--
Oh! 'tis agony to tell him
They're calling me away.
If earthly love could conquer
The mighty power of Death,
_His_ love would stay the current
Of failing strength and breath!
That voice whose tender fondness
So long has been my stay
Should tempt me from the voices
That are calling me away.
Ah! they bring my children to me,
That loved and lovely band,
And with wistful awe-struck faces,
Around my couch they stand,
And I strain each gentle darling
To me with wailing cry,
As I for the first time murmur:
"My God! 'tis hard to die!"
But, O hark! Those strains of Heaven,
Sound louder in mine ear,
Whisp'ring: "Thy God, Thy Father,
Will guard those children dear."
Louder they grow, now drowning
All sounds of mortal birth,
And in wild triumphant sweetness
Bear me aloft from earth!
CONTENTS.
Introduction
_SACRED POEMS._
Abraham's Sacrifice
An Afternoon in July
An Autumn Evening at Murray Bay
Ash Wednesday
Beneath the Snow
Blind Man of Jericho
Canadian Snow Fall
Canadian Summer Evening
Emigrants' Monument at Point St. Charles
Fall of the Leaf
Garden of Gethsemane
Huron Chief's Daughter
Jacques Cartier's First Visit to Mount Royal
Looking Forward
Magdalen at the Madonna's Shrine
Maple Tree
Mater Christianorum, Ora Pro Nobis
Monument to Irish Emigrants
Mystical Rose, Pray for us
Old Towers of Mount Royal, or Ville Marie
On the Death of the same revered nun, the venerable Mother St.
Madeleine
Our Mountain Cemetery
Our Saviour's Boyhood
Our Canadian Woods in Early Autumn
Our Saviour and the Samaritan Woman at the Well
Parting Soul and her Guardian Angel
Plea for our Northern Winters
Purification, The
Recollect Church
Rich and Poor
River Saguenay
Sister M. B.'s arrival in Montreal
Stable of Bethlehem, The
Ten Lepers, The
Touching Ceremony
Tryst of the Sachem's Daughter, The
Vesper Hour, The
Virgin of Bethlehem
Welcome to our Canadian Spring
White Canoe--A Cantata
White Canoe--A Legend of Niagara Falls
White Maiden and the Indian Girl
Winter in Canada
_NARRATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE POEMS._
Bound for California
Charles VII and Joan of Arc at Rheims
Cornelia's Jewels
Four Wishes
Girl Martyr
Hunter and his Dying Steed, The
Lady of Rathmore Hall
Red Rock Camp
Shepherdess of the Arno
Soldier's Death
St. Francis of Borgia by the Coffin of Queen Isabel
St. Ignatius Loyola at the Chapel of our Lady of Montserrat
Two Birth Nights
Village Girl and her High-born Suitor
Wood Fairy's Well
Wreath of Forest Flowers
Young Greek Odalisque
_LYRICAL POEMS._
A Few Short Years from Now
Alain's Choice
Autumn Winds
Choice of Sweet Shy Clare
Clouds that Promise a Glorious Morrow
Come Tell me some Olden Story
Death of the Pauper Child
Earth's Moments of Gloom
Emigrant's Address to America
Far West Emigrant
Final Reckoning
Flowers and Stars
Harvests
Hon. James B. Clay
In Memory of the Late G. C. of Montreal
Maude--a Ballad of the Olden Times
Moonlight Reveries
Nature's Music
On Some Rose Leaves brought from the Vale of Cashmere
_REFLECTIVE AND ELEGIAC POEMS._
Rejoicing after the Battle of Inkerman
Sea Shore Musings
Sunset Thoughts of a Dying Child
To the Soldiers of Pius Ninth
Tribute to the Memory of the Rev. Sister the Nativity, Foundress
of the Convent of Villa Maria
Welcome to the Month of Mary
When will it End
Whispers of Time
Worldly Death Bed
_VERS DE SOCIETE._
After the Ball
Bride of a Year
Flirtation
Harry (engaged to be married) to Charley (who is not)
Modern Courtship
Transplanted Rose Tree
Young Novice
_VOICES OF THE HEARTH._
Boy's Appeal
Boy's Hopes
Child's Dream
Child's Treasures
Girl's Day Dream and its Fulfilment
Given and Taken
Husband and Wife
My Thoughts to-night
Time's Changes in a Household
To a Beautiful Child on her Birthday with a Wreath of Flowers
To a Young Girl with an Album
To a Young Mother on the Birth of her First Born Child
To my First Born
To my Husband on our Wedding Day
Voices of the Death Chamber
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 | 10