Page:Olive Buds.pdf/53

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Where the sad widow weeping stands, As if her day of hope was done; Where the wild mother clasps her hands And asks the victor for her son:

Where the lone maid in secret sighs O'er the lost solace of her heart, As prostrate in despair she lies, And feels her tortur'd life depart;

Where midst that desolated land, The sire lamenting o'er his son, Extends his pale and powerless hand, And finds its only prop is gone.

See, how the bands of war and woe Have rifled sweet domestic bliss; And tell me if your laurels grow, And flourish in a soil like this?